The Movement You Need
by fingers-falling-upwards
Summary: Everything is different for Team Seven after the forest of death, and it all has to do with two seals. One forces the members to get closer than they ever wanted to be. Ever. The other changes Naruto's life for the better. How much will these two different seals alter Naruto's path?
1. The Seal

**Hey. I have no self control. Sorry.**

**This fic I've been working on for a couple years. I think it kicks ass. I had multiple betas looking over the starting chapters, so here we go**

**Ika-Sophie, Bonecrestdragon, Halcyon Efflorescence, Renoa-hime, and ink . ception - ****THANK YOU!**

**That's how serious I am about this fic.**

**BTW. I update weekly.**

**Here we are.**

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**Chapter 1: The Seal**

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The blond he held wiggled furiously within his grasp and the snake-sannin turned towards him with an interested gleam in his eyes. Those features were so similar, it made him nauseous. He shivered unpleasantly and a wicked smile of delight spread over his face. He would relish every moment of this. Ruining that man's precious son would be a wonderful treat on his stop through Konoha. Amusingly enough, whatever he might do would probably be kinder than what the aforementioned man had done by generously throwing his own flesh and blood to the carnivorous wolves within the village of Konoha.

The fact that the blasted blond had already practically cursed his son to a miserable fate almost made Orochimaru ignore the container and move on to the main course. There would be time for the _jinchuuriki _later. Ah, but alas, it was the damn blond hair and blue eyes that would not let him part without leaving a little gift with the boy. After all, he didn't want to be second to the blond man in any way— ruining his son's life included.

Clearly Minato had set the bar very high.

Orochimaru grinned and gathered his chakra into small dancing characters on the tips of his fingers. Surely the beloved Fourth wouldn't mind if he fiddled around with his seal, would he? He pushed his entire weight into a sole, five-fingered strike. A tight gasp of air escaped bruised lungs in a single painful exhale. The body under duress crumpled forward, boneless and blessedly unconscious. From above, the cruel man gave a lick of the lips. His work was nearly done. Only one last loose end to tie up. Mmm, so many people were receiving presents of all kinds from the ever so magnanimous Orochimaru-sama.

When he spied the furious and heated glares he was under, the snake-sannin could only sigh. This younger generation had no sense of appreciation. Soon they would see— most particularly, soon Sasuke would see. That beautiful thought brought a smile to the gold-eyed man's face once more.

"I will be back for you one day." His creepy laugh sent chills running over everyone's spines. "However, at the moment, I have more pressing matters to deal with." Without another word, Orochimaru let the form slip from his grip and free-fall to the earth, gathering fatal speed as it fell. A kunai halted the blond's descent to the afterlife.

Slowly, the golden gaze flickered back to his ultimate prize.

A twisted smile filled his face and he licked his lips as he felt the burning force of those red eyes.

Yes, he was ravenous for the main course and it was far overdue.

* * *

_". . . –shina- . . . –orgive m- . . . __**Shiki Fuuin—"**_

* * *

The muted throbbing of his head is what woke the blond from his slumber. For a few moments he stared blearily at the brown interior of the cave. The smell of fresh grass and the oppressively hot, muggy air, assaulted his senses, leaving him bewildered. For a moment, the blond was confused as to why he was bewildered by this information. After a seemingly immeasurable amount of time of blankly staring at the ceiling, his mind slowly returned, and the impossible implications of his situation finally sunk in.

"Naruto!"

His head twitched to the side and he sat up slowly. Light green eyes bubbling with tears met his own cerulean ones, and before he knew it he was embraced.

"Naruto, I'm so scared!" She blubbered, "S-Sasuke-kun got hit by the snake guy and h-he hasn't woken up, a-and I don't know what to do! I tried to make sure you two were safe but Sasuke-kun hasn't woken up and what'll we do if someone attacks and they h-hurt him? What'll we do?" Sakura repeated herself unintelligibly as her crying almost reached hysterical heights. She'd kept together as best as she could. Now that Naruto was awake though, a huge part of her burden had fallen from her shoulders and the pent up emotions were finally flooding out in her great relief.

Surprisingly, Naruto hadn't hugged her back like she'd expected, instead he lay somewhat unresponsively in her arms. A waver of guilt filled her eyes. "_He_ _must really be hurt_."

"Are you alright Naruto?" she asked as she finally pulled back from her hug. The look in his eyes was dazed and he was surveying the surrounding area with such intensity it was as though he'd never seen anything like it before. It was disconcerting to say the least. By far, however, the most unnerving thing was his lack of volume.

"Naruto?" Sakura hesitantly tried to get his attention. Fear that the enemy put him under a genjutsu or that he had sustained head-trauma began to build up in her heart. Finally those blue eyes landed on her. She was taken slightly aback. There was something strange. Certainly those were his eyes. Only Naruto possessed those deep blue eyes. Even the Yamanaka's pale, baby-blue shade paled in comparison to the deep royal blue her blond teammate possessed. Despite the singularity of the feature, somehow she had the strangest notion that they weren't Naruto's.

She shook her head to rid herself of the silly idea. The forest had made her paranoid. Sakura was startled as he slowly stood while she was still deep in thought. He walked slowly to their other teammate, and the feeling of distrust welled up again.

"H-hey, what're you doing?" She moved to stand in the way of Naruto and her crush. Before she could make it all the way, she was cut off as he turned to face her and her breath froze in her throat under the pressure of those eyes.

Reassurance radiated off of those familiar orbs in waves and she subconsciously moved towards the safe feeling. The steadiness of his gaze settled her heart and mind. For the first time since the start of the Chunin exams, she felt calm and peaceful. The placidity of his eyes emptied her body of distrust, and in its place, and immense sense of serenity invaded her. Underneath those watchful blues, she felt that everything would be alright.

"What happened?" He asked her lowly.

She blinked, breaking from her trance. "Uh, he was fighting the snake guy." Her eyebrows pulled together in a stressed line, "That grass-nin did something to Sasuke-kun. He hasn't woken up since then. Do you think he's going to be alright?" For whatever the reason, the fact she was seeking assurance from Naruto didn't strike her as odd in the moment.

He nodded absently. "Is there anything else?"

Sakura moved to shake her head but stopped half-way. "Well, there's the strangest bruise on his neck. I think the snake-nin did it."

A small stream of malevolent chakra was steadily leaking from the Uchiha's neck and Sakura shivered under the unpleasant sensation. Naruto remained unruffled and slowly maneuvered himself so that he was kneeling beside their unconscious comrade. Sakura watched curiously as her teammate carefully examined the strange markings on Sasuke's neck. The nervousness in her body had disappeared with Naruto's soothing look. All she could feel was content and warmth. Somewhere in a distant place in her mind, it registered that it was odd that she was so calm despite the fact they were in the forest of death, there were countless, unseen enemy ninja out there ready to strike, and that her crush, (and the strongest member of their team,) was currently incapacitated. All those things seemed so unimportant at the current time . . .

She watched the blond prod the bruise a few times before taking a kunai to the raised neckline of the shirt and shredding it down for easier access. He sat there for a few minutes, a pensive look on his face. All the while, the black and purple energy swirled unpleasantly in the air. Naruto batted it away from his face every once and a while, seeming entirely unbothered by it. After some time, it appeared to Sakura that Naruto had reached a decision because he sat back and pulled his hand to the bridge of his nose in irritation. He rested there for a minute, all while mumbling several explicative statements all revolving around a certain reptile. The unusual motion for dealing with stress looked odd on his face and it stuck out in Sakura's mind. '_Naruto's never pinched his nose before_.' It was odd. The more she tried to concentrate on that thought, the harder it became and the more unimportant the matter seemed. The fact Naruto was looking at her now was certainly more pressing than her silly wandering thoughts.

"Sakura, will you help me?"

The missing '-chan' at the end of her name set off a short and dull alarm in her mind that something wasn't right, but it was soon swallowed by the sea of comfort she found emanating from his entire being. "What do you need?"

"I require some of your blood." His expression never changed, not even for a second.

She frowned. There were very strict codes about allowing anyone to handle your blood if you could help it. In fact, she remembered all the rules and stipulations for the matter, having memorized them for a test. Naruto should know better than to ask. Belatedly, she recognized that she had no idea why he needed it.

He noticed her expression, and tacked on another thought with a serious and determined intent embedded in his voice. "Sasuke-kun needs your help right now. You're the only one he can rely on. Are you willing to do what needs to be done to save him?"

Any and all of the slight shadows of doubt that had been flickering in and out of her mind were blown away by the bright burst of light his words inspired. She was entirely giddy with joy. Sasuke needed _her._ Sakura was helping save his life, only her. Ino would be blown out of the water. She could practically hear his cool voice thanking her persistently. After having a conversation with her he would realize what a beautiful and intelligent kunoichi she really was and it would be inevitable for them to get together. In fact, marriage might be in her near future if Sakura played her cards right.

She knew what she had to do now. Holding out a kunai eagerly, she put forth her forearm for him to use as he so desired. "Take as much as you need."

He gave her an idyllic smile as he drew a short, careful line along her skin. Crimson liquid poured out in little rivulets that crawled down her arms and dripped slowly to the dirt below. Her heart never sped up in the slightest, and there was still a faint smile on her face. Naruto was quick to hold out one of his hands to catch the flow in the shallow cup he made in his palm. "Put some pressure on that," he said idly.

Without another glance in her direction he began to draw on Sasuke's neck with her blood, in quick, efficient strokes which could only be achieved by years of practice and application. Taking the same kunai from before, he sliced his own index finger and carried on in a similar fashion. The kunai was gripped in his teeth, and a few times Naruto leaned in so closely that he would have nicked Sasuke's ear if he moved his head at all. Finally he stopped and leaned away from his comrade. As he took the kunai from his mouth, he examined his work with trained eyes. Naruto flicked his pinky to clear up some slightly smudged characters. After he ran over it with a fine-tooth comb and found nothing wrong, he was ready.

"Sakura, when I say so, I want you to channel your chakra to your hands and put them on Sasuke. Do you understand?" With bloody hands he began to form a long string of complex seals.

She nodded complacently and moved close as well. With a great palm-thrust, Naruto slammed his hand into the three black dots. Dark chakra flared out furiously like a raging fire. The Kyuubi container grit his teeth and bore the brunt of it determinedly, saving Sakura from its wrath. Red lines skirted the floor, dashing over the area and covering a large radius. Upon close inspection, Sakura noticed that the red lines were actually columns of small, detailed characters. There must have been thousands.

"Now Sakura! Put your hands on mine!" Nodding steadfastly, Sakura complied. She dredged up the entirety of her small stores and gathered it in her palms before joining Naruto's efforts. Her meager supply was barely a drop compared to the rippling visible energy that twisted furiously around Naruto's hand. Despite that, she pushed herself to her limit, determined to do whatever she could. Beads of sweat were rolling down Naruto's forehead from the sheer exertion he was putting into the seal. A dry grin finally spread over his face as the lines of characters slowly began to crawl towards the point of origin. The labor intensive activity was slow going, but he felt a glimmer of satisfaction nonetheless.

When only a few inches remained of the red characters, suddenly there was a massive outpouring of chakra from the black marks Orochimaru left. It was a last-ditch effort, but Naruto refused to back down. He channeled enough chakra to level a mountain, drowning the purple force and bleeding it out like poison from a wound. With a final push, the lines completely congregated in a red, circular shape over the three black dots. The intensity of the dark color had been lost, and the three commas were looking fainter and greyer than before.

Sitting back and wiping a sleeve over his sweat-soaked forehead, Naruto took a moment to bask in the afterglow of his success. The red circle covered the curse mark, surrounding it with innumerable interlocking characters. He'd like to see someone try and undo this. Not even the snake-sannin would be able to even comprehend the structure, let alone attempt to circumvent or undo the seal. He allowed himself a grin of satisfaction and exhaled heavily in relief.

Sakura also surveyed the product of their hard work. She didn't quite understand what had happened, and she found that the idea of finding out was very unattractive at the moment. What she did know though, was that the oppressive and harsh purple chakra from before had gone. That was enough to sate her curiosity and stop her questioning.

"C'mere, let me see your arm," Naruto said, shaking Sakura from her thoughts. The blond ninja proceeded to rip off a small section from the bandages on his thigh that held his kunai pouch in place. With practiced hands, he wrapped her forearm tightly. He made sure to cover the small black ink that had just appeared and begun seeping into her bloodstream. He didn't have time to deal with it now. He'd just impress upon her mind that she wasn't to remove it. After he finished with that and told her repeatedly not to touch it, he pulled out one of his explosive tags. After pricking another finger, for the other slice seemed to have healed up, he began to modify the tag with his own blood. He made use to use his right hand because, like Sakura, his left now had a matching black ink in its tip. It would be gone soon, well, Naruto hoped. He shook his head to clear his mind and focused back on the task before him.

"You were excellent Sakura," he complimented her as he worked on the tag, "It's only because of you that we succeeded."

A pink flush of pleasure surrounded her at the acknowledgement. She really had saved Sasuke, didn't she? A deep sense of pride welled up and she couldn't resist a happy smile.

Naruto stood and began to scan the area for an appropriate place to put his finished work. He finally settled on a narrow opening on the ceiling of the cave. No one would know it was there unless they were looking for it. Satisfied with his choice, he channeled some chakra through it before a flash of dark pink blew out from every angle before vanishing from sight.

"What did you do?" Sakura asked. There was some dull discontent hovering in the back of her mind. Though now that she thought about it, why should she care what Naruto was doing? It wasn't like it could be important or anything. It was so irrelevant that she decided she might as well put this in the very back of her mind.

Naruto gave a small laugh, so unlike his normal boisterous tone, and indulged her question. "That was a barrier-seal. It will protect this area from any outside attacks. No one will be able to get in, and there is a mild deterrent that naturally pushes people away from it. We'll be safe for a while." His promise was soft.

"Really? That's a relief," the pink-haired ninja exhaled, feeling her mind further ease. At least they wouldn't have to worry about other ninja.

"Yes, it will remain open for us three because we were in it when I activated it, and the barrier won't push us away or affect us in any capacity, ahh . . ." He scratched his head a little. "I don't know why I'm taking the time to explain this to you. It's not like you'll remember." He mumbled it mostly to himself as he walked out of the cave and into the clearing. The blond stood in silence for a few treasured moments, simply taking in the fresh air and sunlight. "It's been a long time since I've been out," he spoke softly.

Sakura's brow was furrowed. "What do you mean?" She kept trying to compose her thoughts but the more she tried, the more tangled they became.

He ignored her and took the deepest breath he could. "It's time to go back already," he hummed to himself. Eventually, Naruto began to walk back to the cave, but he took his time with every step. He knew it needed to happen, and he perfectly accepted it. Despite that, he wasn't exactly eager to go back in. He hadn't quite realized exactly how much he missed the simple feel of nature until this point. With one final look to the vast world beyond, he went back into the cave.

"Naruto wha—"

He cut her off cleanly, "Sakura, thank you so much for all your help. I couldn't have done it without you," Naruto said with an honest smile. It wasn't as wide as his normal one, —not as jam packed and absolutely bursting with glee— but it was equally as genuine and earnest with emotion.

"It was nice to meet you," Naruto said.

Before she could voice her confusion he made a few hand-signs and she collapsed like a limp puppet into his hands. He laid her down gently and quickly dissolved the first genjutsu he cast. The memories of this incident would be buried deep within her mind, shoved away by her own subconscious. It truly was a beautiful jutsu. In a matter of minutes, she would wake from the second, which caused the receiver to fall into light a sleep. When she awoke, she would be none the wiser about the events that had just occurred. He felt the tugging, dragging himself back under. Naruto lowered himself to the ground quickly and shakily so he wouldn't fall down and hurt himself. Just in time too, because dark spots were already dancing before his eyes.

Namikaze Minato exhaled one last breath before falling away from the physical world and into the spiritual one.

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Naruto woke up in an unknown location.

Where was he?

The area he found himself in was bright, almost blindingly so. The strangest part of it was that the soft waves of light were an odd assortment of sherbet hues. (Not that it wasn't pleasant, because in fact the sunny waves oozed warmth and comfort, but it was certainly a bizarre sight to awaken to.) The thirteen-year-old ninja scratched his head and surveyed the area again, but discovered nothing but miles and miles of shimmering space.

What was he doing before this? He thought on it for a moment before slowly the memories rose to the surface and he shot up. "Wait! I was fighting that snake creep!" Where were Sasuke and Sakura? Agitation invaded his body quickly and he began trying to figure a way out of the room. He ran and ran, expecting to run into a wall somewhere but after several minutes, all he discovered was more empty space. Seeing as the floor beneath him was only one thing he could actually feel, he'd have to start there.

Punching the floor did absolutely nothing, and none of his weapons had any effect in the slightest. There wasn't a dent or a scratch on the smooth surface. The floor was clear and just as transparent as the rest of the room. He couldn't make out a single bump or ridge that set it apart; he might as well have been standing in air. That thought coupled with the optical mindfuck that the wall-less ceiling-less 'room' was giving him, was more than enough to make Naruto nauseous. The teen shook the feeling off desperately.

He needed to find Sakura and Sasuke! What if that grass-nin was still attacking them? And here Naruto was, standing around and wasting time. Just as he was about to whip out the exploding tags, a gentle hand stopped him.

"It's alright, calm down," a voice said placidly.

Naruto whipped around sharply to face his new enemy. Before he could even think to strike, every thought vanished from his mind.

Blue met blue and the younger's mouth fell open. He knew that face. Hell, anyone in Konoha could tell you who this guy was. His face was on the mountain for God's sake! "Y-you're the Yondaime!"

A slight smile appeared on his face. "That's me."

Silence filled the area as Naruto tried to reconcile this information with what he already knew. Minato waited patiently for him to gather his wit. The Yondaime knew it was probably quite a shock and couldn't blame the younger blond for feeling at such a loss. Though when the minutes dragged on, Minato found himself scratching his head.

"You're dead!" Naruto finally exclaimed. The accusatory note in his voice had Minato sweatdropping.

"Uh, yes. Technically I am."

There was suspicion in Naruto's gaze. "Technically?"

Minato waved it off for the moment. "It's complicated."

"Well, why are you here?" The blond boy hesitated, "Why am I here? Wait, where is here?!"

"This is a part of your mind."

There was a short pause, and the only movement was the soft shimmering of the pastel colors. "It's kind of girly," Naruto said finally.

Whatever reaction Minato had expected it wasn't that. The fact that the teen had decided to comment on that of all things, instead of marveling at the fact of being in his mind, or meeting the Yondaime who was for all purposes _dead_, made a grin appear on the older man's face, and the sheer surprise made him laugh. His hand rose to smother it when he saw the disgruntled look Naruto was shooting him. "Ah, I think it's great. I thought you would like it though. There's a lot of orange."

Naruto fidgeted, "I didn't say I didn't like it. Orange is the best color ever!" After he spoke, he seemed to realize that he'd gotten off track. "Don't distract me! I don't trust you."

Minato held up his hands as a sign to show that he meant no harm. In his mind, he couldn't help but see Kushina in his indignant reply. A warm, yet sad smile fell over his face. Naruto was too preoccupied to notice it.

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked, "And how come you're not dead?"

The Yondaime exhaled. That would take several hours to explain. "It's a very long story, but I don't have a lot of time. You'll have to accept the abridged version for now. One day I'll tell you the whole story, okay?" he promised.

"Alright," the teen agreed somewhat reluctantly.

"As you know, I am the one who sealed the fox into you," Minato began, trying to settle the figurative butterflies in his chest that were nervously gnawing at his innards. He didn't know how Naruto would react to this news . . . If the complex and tumultuous look on his son's face as he talked about the Kyuubi was anything to go by, he was rightly worried. The Yondaime swallowed and moved on. "What you probably didn't know was that I also sealed some of my chakra in there as well."

Naruto stared at him with blatant curiosity. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I wanted to meet with you, Naruto."

"H-how do you know my name? Why would you want to meet me? I was just some kid! I was just some orphan! Why do you know my name?!" The teen's emotions were building with confusion that fueled Naruto's anger and fear. "You don't even know me!" Naruto shouted defensively, angered at what he didn't understand.

"I should know your name. After all, I am the one who named you."

The statement echoed in the wall-less space for what seemed to be an eternity.

"It can't be . . ." The teen's blue eyes widened incomprehensibly. "You're my f-father?"

The Yondaime nodded. "Yes, and Naruto, you're my son." It felt good to say those words aloud for the first time. The feeling was tainted by the fact he was putting his son through so much pain and distress. All he could do was watch the battle of emotions play across his son's face with bated breath.

The Kyuubi container couldn't understand. He smiled and then frowned and tried repeatedly to assemble his thoughts into a sentence. "I don't— why— It doesn't—" Naruto gave a loud growl of frustration and the next thing Minato knew he was doubled over. Naruto had thrown every ounce of his strength into a single punch, trying vainly to express the millions of conflicting emotions running through his mind.

"Why the hell did you seal the fox into your own son?! Don't you know how hard it was for me?!" He exclaimed. "I had no friends growing up! People always ignored me! No one cared about me except for oyaji! "Naruto was trembling violently. "I can't—" Tears were falling like fierce rivers down his whiskered cheeks. "I don't know if I'm happy or sad!" He finished finally.

The Fourth didn't believe he had any right to act like a father after everything he'd done to his son, but looking to the thirteen-year-old, he thought that perhaps that was what his son needed right now. Naruto was still shaking and Minato did the only thing he could. The teen was still close from his punch, and Minato wrapped his arms around the trembling form of his son. He held the boy tightly, trying to let him feel the warmth and love Minato felt so fiercely for Naruto. Always, he'd never stopped loving this boy.

"I'm sorry Naruto," he spoke softly, "I'm so sorry."

They remained there, in silence, simply trying to hold onto to each other and cope with the new realities before them.

Their peaceful moment was ruined by the upheaval of their environment.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked as they were jolted out of their embrace. The ground was shaking below them and he skidded a few steps to the side as he tried to keep himself steady. The strangest tugging feeling began to overtake his body and he could feel himself start to slip away. There was a sad smile on Minato's face and Naruto felt panic overtake him. He was losing his chance to talk to his father and he knew in his heart it was unlikely he would ever see the man again.

"You're waking up, Naruto." Minato's voice was gentle.

And none of it was fair. Because Naruto wanted to hear him say his name again, and again. The teen wanted him to say 'Naruto' until the sound no longer registered as a surprise. He wanted to hear him say it every day, three hundred times, until it made Naruto absolutely sick. He wanted to hear that voice calling his name to wake up in the morning, and to eat breakfast, and take his shoes off when he came back, and telling him 'welcome home,' every day he came back from his missions. He wished so badly that that kind of reality was an option. The fact it wasn't only made him cry harder.

This would be the last time he would ever hear his father say his name. The thought was almost too much for him to handle.

"Dad . . ." He said finally, feeling tears of a different kind build up. His words made a wide grin split over the Yondaime's face. Naruto was startled by how similar the smile was to his own.

He ran back into his father's arms. "Will I see you again?" Naruto asked, doing his best to resist the tugging. He was desperately trying to prolong their limited time. In his heart, he already knew the answer, but it didn't stop the slivers of hope that also resided there.

"Honestly, I don't know," Minato said truthfully, but he made sure to catch his son's eyes. "But no matter what the case is, know that I'm proud of you and who you've become."

The teen's eyes flickered uncertainly. These were words he was so desperate to receive, but upon hearing them, he found himself shying away and looking towards the ground. He was suddenly doubting the veracity of his father's words. It just didn't seem that they could be true . . .

The Yondaime placed a hand over his son's head and ruffled those familiar blond locks. "I am proud to be your father, Naruto." Minato did his absolute best to relay how much he truly meant those words.

"R-really?" Naruto was still hesitant, but he raised his eyes. Minato cursed every single person who had shunned his child and led to his sadly jaded outlook. Though he knew it all led back to him and his choice to seal the fox in Naruto. He would carry that guilt with him for the rest of his existence. If only the fallout of his decision could have landed solely on his shoulders, instead spreading onto Naruto's. But such was not the case. All that he could do now was try and show Naruto that he was loved. Because he was; he dearly, dearly, was.

Minato gave him an honest smile. "Yes."

Heartfelt joy started to build in the teen's chest. The tugging grew fiercer and he found his image of the scene slowly disappearing piece by piece like an unraveling jigsaw puzzle. "No!" He wasn't ready to say goodbye! "Dad!" The image of the Yondaime became distant and disjointed. The last image he saw was his father mouthing those last and most precious words to him. It wasn't fair! He wanted to hear them! He'd always wanted to hear them . . .

The glowing, warm place, filled with pastels and acceptance, faded into black.

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**The end of chapter one. More next week :D **

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	2. A Splendid Mess

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**That's why I'm updating early, _and _combining two chapters to make one awesomely long 14,000 word 2nd chapter. Viola~ **

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**Chapter 2: A Splendid Mess**

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When Naruto opened his eyes again, he found himself being shaken fervently.

"Naruto! Wake up!" The voice was shrill and it took him a few moments to assimilate back to reality. Sakura was the one shaking him. Sasuke sat a little ways off, observing the scene, but not making a movement to help.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" He asked, dazedly.

"Finally! You were really worrying me!" She admitted, but she backtracked when she realized what she'd said. Sakura didn't want to make Naruto think she was interested. "Well, I wasn't that worried, kind of annoyed really." She qualified her statement.

She hadn't needed to worry, because Naruto still wasn't quite awake yet, his mind was torpid and hazy.

"What happened?" Naruto queried.

"After you got knocked out, Sasuke-kun fought off the grass-nin. I haven't seen him since, so I think we're alright for now." Sakura peered out into the dense forest, as if any second the snake summoner would appear again and attack.

"Why were you shaking me so much anyways?" Naruto asked, "I thought we were in danger or something."

"You were crying, Naruto," Sakura replied, marginally softer.

Instead of the loud and defensive reply she'd expected, her teammate merely faced the ground, a shadow covering his face as he remembered his dream.

Most likely it had just been fanciful thinking on his part. As if the Fourth Hokage would actually be his father. That was every orphan's dream, he bet. His eyes moved to the sunlit clearing outside of the cave wistfully. It had been nice though, for those few minutes, feeling claimed. That sense of belonging was bittersweet in that it had only lasted for a few precious minutes. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He couldn't afford to get caught in those kinds of fantasies right now. He needed to focus on the exams. There wasn't much time until the second exam ended and they needed to complete the objective as soon as possible.

"What was it about?" The kunoichi asked hesitantly.

The concern in her voice honestly touched him, but he had no desire to share something so personal. He looked up, a large, fake smile spread over his face. "Ramen! It was such a great dream. I was bathing in bowls and bowls of it. It doesn't surprise me that I was crying tears of joy."

"Baka! You would have a stupid dream like that!" Sakura declared. Once more she was feeling mildly upset with the concern she had for the blond idiot. Every time it proved unfounded.

Unlike Sakura, Sasuke simply stared at the orange-clad teen, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. The expression on Naruto's face froze. The mask he'd shoved on wasn't as convincing as normal. His emotions were still in flux from the rollercoaster his dream had set him on.

The Uchiha watched him for a while longer. Normally he would call the idiot on it, if only to prove his own superior powers of observation, but the honestly scared expression on his teammate's face stayed his hand. Instead he just clucked his tongue. "You have such cheap taste. Not that I expected anything else from a dobe like you." The gratitude that flooded Naruto's eyes was almost too much for Sasuke. He felt uncomfortable under that gaze. It wasn't as though he'd done anything that special.

"Sasuke-teme! You're just in denial about the glories of the world's best food."

"Hn," Sasuke replied, only because he wanted to end this false conversation early. The dobe's head wasn't in it and neither was his. They didn't have time to waste keeping up with appearances. If Naruto wanted to pretend everything was fine, then so be it, but Sasuke wouldn't let it get in the way of the exam. Not when his promotion was on the line. Not when that next rung on the ladder was before him— the ladder that would lead him to Itachi . . .

"So, what should we do next, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura turned to his guidance. The Uchiha considered their options for a few moments. "First things first, we need to get food and water."

After that, rest and recovery were next on the list. Sasuke grudgingly admitted the fact to himself that he still needed time to heal and regain his chakra. It was clear to see that Naruto was in similar shape, which was odd indeed because the blond was usually a volcano of stamina. Sasuke supposed it just went to show how tough of a fight it was against the grass-nin. Inwardly, the Uchiha recognized that perhaps he had a smidge more respect for the dobe after seeing him go up against the snake summoner; not that he'd ever let his teammate know that.

"We should set up a temporary base camp. We'll have to find and secure a safe area. After food and water, getting sleep should be our top priority. The scrolls can wait until tomorrow when we have more strength."

Sakura nodded along with his words and waited for him to finish before putting in her own two cents. "Let's set up our base here," she suggested.

Sasuke frowned at the thought. "No, we've lingered here too long already. We need to find somewhere else."

Though the kunoichi was tentative about contesting it, she felt it was her duty to do what she could to ensure their communal safety, (extra emphasis on her crush's safety.) "Really, I know this is a safe spot. Please, let's stay here."

The unusual occurrence of Sakura not agreeing with every word that came out of his mouth was enough for him to look at her questionably. Her insistence at staying here was also suspicious.

"Mmmm, I agree with Sakura-chan. This is a safe place," Naruto nodded along.

Looking at his two companions carefully, Sasuke gathered what little chakra he had and activated his sharingan for a few seconds. He frowned. There was no genjutsu to be seen. Just to be safe though . . .

"Ow! Why'd you hit me!?" Naruto demanded, rubbing his head.

"Do you still think this is a safe place to stay?" Sasuke demanded without preamble.

"Yes," Naruto replied, disgruntled.

The Uchiha let out a sigh. So it really wasn't a genjutsu. "I was just checking something."

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto growled, but he was pointedly ignored and glared at by Sasuke and Sakura respectively.

"Why do you think this is a safe place?" He asked Sakura.

She paused for a moment. "Well, so far I haven't seen any enemy ninja in the trees or surrounding areas. The fact that our cave is low to the ground makes it less likely anyone will find us, and it offers us shelter against the elements. Also, the fact that there's only one entrance makes it a prime area because it's easier to defend." She stopped before adding cautiously, "And I don't know why, but I'm sure this is a safe place to be."

Right on every count. With no trace of a genjutsu, Sasuke was finding it hard to think of a reason for them to move, especially as weak as they were. Those were very good points. Not to mention that it was Sakura who had been guarding them all this time, and thus had spent the most time in the environment. She would naturally know more about the location. Not only that, but the calmness of his teammates' trust in the area was contagious, and Sasuke had a hard time resisting it. They needed 'calm' desperately. "Alright then, we'll set our camp here for now," he agreed.

Sakura lit up at his words, beaming with pride at her accomplishment. Perhaps she should put in her thoughts more often. Sasuke had certainly been impressed, even if he hadn't shown it visibly. Sakura could tell from his tone. The Uchiha subtly moved away from her excited and girlish energy with a shudder before he continued talking.

"I don't think we should separate after what happened last time," Sasuke rubbed his neck absent-mindedly. "So while it'll take longer, it would be best to stick together and do things one at a time."

Naruto muttered something unpleasant under his breath, but Sasuke didn't particularly care at this moment. It was frustrating, they were all irritated, but they still had to do it. With the matter settled, they decided to start by finding a river. Luckily they stumbled across one sooner rather than later. After refilling their canteens and drinking as much water as they could, they moved onto the rest of the essentials for their night in the forest. The process of finding food and firewood was tedious and mundane. The three grit through it though with more efficiency than usual. All of them were too concerned about their closing window of time to bicker as they normally did.

They decided they would make a plan of attack tomorrow, for now, they would have to try and rest while they could. It was easier said than done when you were camping in an area called 'The Forest of Death.' They returned to their cave after doing a careful patrol around the perimeter. After a sparse dinner of berries and some fish they'd caught at the river, the three were more than ready for sleep. They quickly set up the schedule for who would stand guard. Sasuke and Naruto got the first and last shifts respectively because they needed the sleep the most. Sakura had readily agreed to have the less desirable middle one without any complaints.

Sasuke sat back in his usual casual position as he scanned the scenery. The seemingly at ease form denied the fact he was alert and ready to act at an instant's notice. Naruto scoffed inwardly. '_Sasuke thinks he's so cool even when he's just keeping watch. What a teme.'_

With that final thought, the _jinchuuriki_ allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, Minato lay on his back in the familiar pastel room staring at the ceiling, (or perhaps, lack thereof, as there was no way of ascertaining its existence or location.) His lips were pursed in a frown. Since his son had left, the Yondaime had been running the entire happening over and over in his mind, taking apart every second of it and trying to figure out if he had said all the right things and done what he should have done. Normally, Minato was not the kind of person who would fret over his past actions. He was generally a determined sort of man who acted with a deft, decisive hand. Preparation had instilled him with security in the past, and that coupled with his many years of experience in combat and his sharp mind, meant that he was usually able to think his way out of any problem and come out alive and the victor. The aforementioned confidence was nowhere to be seen, because he had no clue how to deal with Naruto. Really, he had all this time in the world to sit and think about his son. He'd gone over the scenario countless times, and he thought he had imagined every reaction. It didn't seem to help one bit because there was no preparing for actually seeing him. The rushing emotions meeting him brought had dashed any and all planning Minato had done.

Naruto looked so tall, so grown up. Minato lamented the lost time they'd never be able to have.

Hopefully he'd done alright. He had to cut himself some slack because he severely doubted he could ever have anticipated that he would be in the position he was. It truly was a delicate and surreal one.

The Yondaime wished he'd had more time to talk to Naruto. There was so much he wanted to tell his son, and so much he wanted to ask about. He was starved for any personal information from his son. While Minato existed in his mind and was able to catch wisps of Naruto's life when power shifted his direction, it couldn't compare to actually having a conversation with his son. There was a distinct difference between watching a person interact, and interacting with them personally. And that massive distinction lay heavily on his mind.

He also wanted the chance to explain everything. A sigh escaped his lips. He'd have to wait until the hopefully-never occurring situation where Naruto would let out the Kyuubi in order to talk to him again. Minato was probably a bad person for slightly wishing that day would come, though he honestly hoped that his son would never be driven to that point. The thought of Naruto being in that much pain made Minato's stomach flip. He'd just have to do what little he could with his small range of power. Helping keep the Kyuubi's chakra in check was what he did best. Whenever it got too much, he'd pull what little red energy he could back into the seal in order to prevent the Kyuubi from leaking out too much. Naruto's chakra pathways weren't developed enough to handle very much of it. Other than that, Minato was miserably unfit for offering any kind of assistance, much to his intense dismay.

Well, that was before now. Something strange had happened today.

One minute he was enjoying his eternal stay in his son's mind and the next, the scenery changed and the chakra flow was diverted so strongly and swiftly that it temporarily threw open a window into the central system of Minato's son's body Naruto was deep, deep asleep. The teen's absence created enough space for Minato to maneuver himself with his new burst of chakra and take control for a moment. Mild distaste settled in his mind as he remembered what Orochimaru had done to his son. The fact someone tampered with his seal made Minato's hair bristle and he would have been more than delighted to use his momentary freedom to hunt down the snake summoner, dismember him, and then beat him to death with his own detached limbs. Sadly, that matter had to be set aside; the state of the Uchiha had taken priority.

That seal was dark. While he wasn't entirely sure about the schematics, he had a basic understanding of what it would do, and he had needed to address it quickly before it settled all the way. Though perhaps he should have used the time to observe his son's seal, but he knew he made the wisest choice. He had faith that the Third or Kakashi would be able to remove the five prong seal from Naruto, while only Minato could seal the curse-mark. While it pained him to ignore his son's condition in lieu of another's, he knew it was crucial to catch Orochimaru's schemes before they grew out of control.

But the altered flow of his son's chakra concerned Minato the most. For whatever reason, the area where he resided was receiving more energy through some mad-fluke in the universe. The extra energy was certainly welcome, but the implications of what it meant regarding the rest of Naruto's system were serious. Considering that Orochimaru had placed an odd numbered seal on top of his even one, he knew the result was that it twisted up the distribution and flow of his son's chakra. It was good for Minato, but extremely bad for Naruto's already poor control. Somehow, he'd have to do something about it. A wry smile spread over his face, and he shut his eyes lazily. He had plenty of time to think about it.

Hopefully, he had made the right choice. Minato was somewhat comforted by the thought that he'd at least been able to avert an Orochimaru-driven disaster that would have manifested in his son's teammate.

He had taken a great risk through implicating his son and Sakura into the seal. The outcome and effect it would have on the blond and pink-haired teens was something not even he was sure of. Hopefully nothing would happen. His idle mind suddenly snapped to attention and his eyes flipped wide open as a new realization occurred.

Shit.

The Fourth resisted the very tempting urge to bang his head against the invisible floor. He'd forgotten to explain to Naruto what he'd done to his teammate's seal. A frown settled on his face. His son would have a rather shocking time discovering what had happened. Minato could imagine how Kakashi's and the Sandaime's faces would look as they tried to puzzle that one out. No one would be able to piece together what happened to the curse mark, or decipher his seal. Of that he was certain. There was also the fact that there seemed to be no logical explanation for how the curse mark was sealed in the first place. The matching marks on Naruto's and Sakura's skin would also be another point of immense confusion. In the short time he'd been in possession of his son's body, he really had made a bit of a mess. Had he really helped out his son in the long-run? Minato let out a groan. Anything regarding his son made him more uncertain than he'd ever been in his entire life.

The approach of another surge of chakra drew Minato's attention and he finally sat up. He was beginning to get used to these bursts of energy. Perhaps if he stored up his energy he'd be able to make another appearance to his son . . .

"Eh? What am I doing here again?"

Minato turned around so quick it made him dizzy. No, he had not been imagining that voice, because in all of his orange glory, Naruto stood before him, back turned and scratching his head in confusion as he looked around the familiar room.

"Naruto." All the emotion the Yondaime possessed had poured into that single, charged word. Naruto turned to face him, astonishment on his face.

"No way . . ." The sheer hope and disbelief in his son's eyes was enough for Minato to break out in a huge grin. With a running start, Naruto barreled towards him. He warmly accepted and reciprocated Naruto's energetic hug, relishing the feeling of holding his son again, even if it was only a spiritual manifestation.

"I wasn't expecting to see you so soon, but I'm so glad I am." Minato pulled away so he could look into his son's eyes.

"I-it was real?" Naruto asked, still staggered from the shock. "It wasn't just a dream? You really are my—" His voice cracked.

"Yes, it was real, Naruto." The Yondaime was nearly beyond words in the face of an event he never thought he'd be able experience again. "I'm here." His father's soft, earnest smile wrought relief, and a glow of happiness slowly built and surrounded Naruto in a bright aura. After a few moments, the teen composed his thoughts clearly enough to start processing the events properly and search for answers.

"How is this happening?" He asked as he let go of his father and took a small step back.

Minato's expression grew business-like. "I trust you remember the ninja that attacked your team." There was no need for clarification. Only one person could be that shinobi. "Well, that ninja's name is Orochimaru, and he is one of the three sannin, who are some of strongest shinobi alive today."

Naruto's attention was rapt and he swallowed harshly at the words. He'd been able to sense exactly how dangerous the snake-guy was, but it was only now that the reality was really settling in. They had been inches away from dying. It had only been through luck —pure, dumb luck— that they had survived. It was strange to him that when he was actually dealing with Orochimaru face-to-face, he had felt none of the rampant fear he felt now when he looked back on it. When he told his father that, the older man just laughed.

"You're the type of ninja who performs best under pressure. That's a wonderful quality to have, and it'll be a great asset when you start doing more dangerous missions." His smile spread widely. Naruto blushed under the praise and ducked his head slightly, though the brimming smile on his face was clear for Minato to see.

"Anyways, back to the main point," Minato guided them back to Naruto's question. "He hit you with a powerful sealing jutsu."

Naruto scrunched his nose as he remembered vaguely studying seals in class. "Seals keep things in; I don't see how it let you out."

"You see Naruto, the seal you already have has another function besides containing the Kyuubi." The Yondaime noticed the slightly dark features on his sons face with a grimace. Nonetheless, it was apparent he was listening quite closely. "One of the reasons your seal is so amazing, as opposed to other _jinchuuriki_—"

"Other _jinchuuriki_ . . .? Wait— you mean there are more like me?!"

Minato nodded. "One for every tailed beast, or biju as they're called."

"How many biju are there?" Naruto was hungry for information. More like him? He wasn't alone? Had they been through what he had? Had they felt the consuming loneliness . . . ?

"There are nine in total," Minato explained. "It's believed by many that the more tails the demon has, the stronger it is. Following that logic, the Kyuubi no kitsune would be the strongest of all the biju. Because the powers of the tailed beasts are so strong, the only way to hold them is to seal them into human containers. Those containers are referred to _Jinchuuriki_." Minato's face grew dark at using that locution to describe his son. "It's an old term that doesn't mean as much now as it did then, but it translates to 'human-sacrifice.'"

The translation made him queasy, but the teen swallowed and tried to focus on other aspects. Naruto filed away all the information into his mind, trying desperately to ingrain every bit of it. When he finished the exam and became chunin, he'd see if he could find one of the other containers. He just had to know . . .

"One of the functions of the seal is that it integrates some of the fox's chakra into your own supply."

Naruto blinked. "Why'd you do that? Isn't that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily," Minato spoke slowly. "With the extra chakra, you're reserves are greatly improved and it enables you a tool to use in order to become a stronger shinobi. The seal filters the Kyuubi's chakra so it's a milder version so that you can slowly adapt to the poisonous nature of it. The effect of that is that you won't be overwhelmed later when you deal with larger quantities."

"Larger quantities? Is it gonna get worse later?" Glimmers of fear shone in Naruto's eyes. He had dealt with only a fraction of the Kyuubi's energy and it was so much. Remembering the fight on the bridge and the sheer rage and power he had felt made him shiver. The idea of dealing with more of that twisted, wicked energy was suffocating.

Minato's expression grew fastidious and serious. "Naruto, the Kyuubi is both a curse and a gift. Many seek the power of the biju, and often times in the past, the jinchuuriki have been a part of many political gambits, and used as weapons of mass destruction in wars. Their mere presence is often used to dissuade wars from even happening due to the immense threat they pose." Upon seeing his son's flickering and uncertain expression, he lowered a hand to his shoulder. "However, I never intended this kind of life for you. The _jinchuuriki_ before you was still alive, and the thought that this would happen had never even occurred to me." He banished the painful thoughts of Kushina from his mind at the moment and made sure to catch his son's eyes to drive the point home. Naruto wasn't a political chess piece, and he never wanted him to feel that way. "You know the Sandaime would never use you like that."

The teen had to agree there. A small smile spread over his face at the mention of the man he viewed as a grandfather. His father's next words only solidified the point further. "Sarutobi and I both know that you are Naruto. You aren't the Kyuubi's _jinchuuriki_, and you aren't the demon; you're Naruto, my son."

The teen's eyes widened. There it was again, that feeling of belonging that he'd never even dared to hope for. He wanted to shy away from it. If he folded and basked in it, Naruto knew he would just crave it that much more. Who knew if he would even have a chance at feeling it again? The very thought of it being ripped away from him after having it caused an ache more painful than any abuse. He didn't know if his heart could take it.

Minato, who was ignorant to the battle playing within his son, casually ruffled Naruto's hair. "Don't worry about it." Unknowingly, he'd made the decision for the teen, because once more, Naruto found himself leaning into the touch. He was unable to resist the warmth. Perhaps it would be alright to indulge for a little while longer . . .

"Wait, why didn't he ever tell me about you?" Naruto asked, his brow was furrowed.

Minato ran a hand through his own shaggy hair. "Well, I can only assume it was to protect you from my enemies."

Naruto stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"You see Naruto, after the Kyuubi's attack, Konoha was severely weakened," The Fourth explained, "There was a very real possibility that another village would try to take advantage of that and attack Konoha while it was recovering."

"No one else had to pretend not to be related though." There was still a frown on his face.

"Well, I had a few more enemies than others." The older blond scratched his cheek. Understatement of the year. "In fact, I was hated very much by an entire foreign village. The fact I died made them all very happy, but—"

The absolutely shocked and horrified expression on Naruto's face that made it clear how unspeakable and ridiculous that idea was to him almost made Minato laugh.

"—but many of them lost out on their chance for revenge against me." There was pain in Minato's face. Even considering the possibility of what could have happened made him sick. "If they knew I had a son, they would shift their grudge to you. Sarutobi knew that, so I assume that was probably why he hid my relation to you from you and the public."

When his father put it that way, Naruto had a hard time contesting it and getting angry. Still . . . "You had that many enemies?!"

The awe in the teen's voice knocked the serious mood clean out of the ball-park. "Er, yes," the Yondaime replied with a small smile at his son's behavior. It couldn't hurt to brag a little bit . . . "I was in the bingo-book and the order was to 'flee on sight' if I remember right."

Stars gleamed in Naruto's eyes. "Wow, that's the coolest!"

Now the Fourth really did laugh. His son's energy and attitude were entertaining and heartening. He hated having to draw it to a close, but it was imperative that he explained what was going on.

"Alright, it is important that you listen very closely Naruto; Orochimaru made an addition to the seal I made." Minato brought them back to the main topic. "He probably wanted to make molding chakra more difficult for you."

. . . And why the snake-nin wanted to do that probably had more to do with Minato than it did with Naruto, which made the Yondaime groan in his head. "The result is that your chakra system is extremely altered. The pathways have been disrupted, and it causes the chakra that normally flows to one section of the body, to rush to other places. So when you attempt to mold the chakra for a jutsu, it's ten-times more difficult because the chakra is flowing in dozens of different directions at the same time."

Naruto looked a little confused at his explanation, but that wasn't the thing he found most puzzling. "What does that have to do with me meeting you?"

Minato smiled now as the cogs whirled in his mind. "If my theory is right, then one of your major pathways, perhaps one that led to part of the brain stem or the penal gland—" Minato cut himself off as he realized he'd started thinking out loud and his son's eyes had grown glassy. "Anyways, one major chakra pathway that leads to the section of your brain that produces dreams has been diverted to this section of your mind where I can spiritually manifest."

The teen blinked. "What?"

"It basically means that more power is coming this way instead of going where it normally does when you dream."

"So when I dream, I end up here?" Naruto asked, simplifying it to its very core.

Minato nodded. "That about sums it up."

_"Why didn't you say that to begin with?"_ —was the impression the Yondaime gathered from the younger blond.

"D'you think it'll stay this way?" The Kyuubi container couldn't keep his nervous energy from leaking into the question. "I'll keep coming here when I dream?"

A gentle grin spread over Minato's face. "So long as nothing disrupts the seal or changes, I think so."

Naruto slowly grew dazed and numb as he gradually realized what that would mean.

"We'll be able to talk about so many things; anything you want, Naruto." Minato was equally excited, already imagining all the things he wanted to share; the battle stories, his ascension to Hokage, the traditions, Kushina— The Yondaime forced himself to turn away from that last fact. He wasn't sure if he was quite ready to breach the subject himself. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that sooner or later, Naruto would ask. It was only natural. But for the moment, hopefully he'd be spared the topic until he was better equipped to deal with it.

"Can you train me?!" Naruto's eager question broke his chain of thought.

Minato blinked. "Ah, well . . ." How would that even work?

"C'mon, you just have to!" Naruto begged, giving him large and beseeching eyes as he ditched any and all of the maturity he had shown before. "Please?"

The Yondaime chuckled. Minato would have to figure out how to go about the training of course, but how could he resist it when his son asked him like that? "Yes, I can train you—"

"YATTA!" Naruto was jumping in the air. This was an absolute dream come true. His idol— who now was his _father_ of all things— was going to train him. He didn't know which part he was happier about, and settled on celebrating the entire thing.

"Maa, maa, Naruto." Minato tried to catch the other blond's attention before he got too carried away. "I can only train your mind. You have to do the physical aspect of things yourself."

That realization didn't take a single bit of wind out of Naruto's sails. "It'll be a piece of cake doing the physical stuff. I've always been good at it."

The Yondaime had witnessed many prime examples of his son's words and he could only laugh. Saying Naruto was 'good at it' was another one of the largest understatements he'd ever heard. His son was an absolute powerhouse of stamina.

"Don't laugh! I'm serious!" The teen exclaimed, a slight pout settling on his face. Minato just ruffled his hair again.

"I believe you," he said honestly. Amusement still pulled at his lips.

Before Naruto could utter a complaint, a distinct tugging feeling cut him off, it was coupled with the rumbling of the invisible floor, though it was less violent than it had been before. If Naruto had to guess, he'd say Sakura was waking him for his shift to keep guard. He gave a small shocked laugh. He had almost forgotten the outside world existed when he was here with his father. Speaking of . . .

His eyes flipped towards the older blond. Despite the fact that there was proof supporting the fact he would come back, he was unable to stop the fear from building up.

Minato was feeling similar, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he gave his son a wide and confident grin. "I'll see you later!"

Naruto bit back the uncertainties that were on the edge of his tongue. "Y-yeah, see you."

Within seconds, Naruto had disappeared from the bright room.

The silence was so unsettling without the presence of the loud, orange teenager. Minato found himself already missing it. He sighed at the loss before flipping himself on the ground to continue his hobby of staring at the debatably existing ceiling. The fact he had been able to see his son again was something he hadn't even dared hope for, and yet, it had happened. The Yondaime couldn't keep the smile off his face. The idea that more meetings were very likely made him so happy it was ridiculous. They'd accomplished so much more this meeting, and he wondered what they could do the next time. There were a lot of subjects he wanted to broach with his Naruto, so it made sense to plan ahead. He wanted it to be a bit more organized so he wouldn't overwhelm his son with questions, and so he would be able to start instructing Naruto with at least a vague idea on what he wanted to cover.

Naruto's training was something he'd have to think about for a while. There was so much to teach him! He wasn't sure if his jutsu could be taught using theory alone, but there was plenty of other stuff that they could work on as well. Traps, battle strategy, politics, stealth, tracking, history; everything needed to enable his son to reach his full potential. If Naruto did that, then there was little doubt in Minato's mind his son would achieve his dream and become Hokage one day.

The happy smile only spread wider. Kushina would have been so proud to see what he'd become. Minato had a moment of silence as he remembered the love of his life and all of her energy. He wished so badly she could have been a part of this . . .

The Yondaime had an epiphany and sat up in excitement. He could teach Naruto fuuinjutsu! That would be a wonderful to keep Kushina alive and a part of Naruto's life. Having Naruto become a seal master would also give him a large leg up in the world. Fuuinjutsu was practically a dying art. The fact he would have a skill that his opponents didn't have would undoubtedly give him a major advantage. There were very, very few true seal masters left. In fact, the only one Minato had ever met was Jiraiya, and he knew that the toad-sage had never known another one either—well, besides Kushina and Minato. His wife had sealing in her blood. The main practitioners of the art had all lived in Uzushiogakure, and most had died when the land was destroyed. The rest were spread out around the fire country, so a large part of the art had been lost. Minato was a seal-master himself, but was obviously incapacitated at the moment. He could preserve it by instilling it in his son though.

Naruto would love sealing, Minato could already tell. It was one of the most useful tools. Not only due to the very good example that lay on his son's stomach, but also looking at how useful it had been on his teammate's seal—

"Damn!"

Minato caved and banged his head against the invisible floor.

He'd forgotten to tell Naruto what he'd done with Sasuke's seal. Again. The only thing Minato could do was cross his fingers and hope nothing too strange would happen before he explained the situation to his son . . .

Knowing Naruto's luck, he doubted it.

* * *

After Sakura had woken him and made a quick move to her sleeping bag for the second time that night, Naruto began to contemplate things. Mulling over the entire experience in his mind still left him awed and almost in denial that something so amazing could really be happening. In fact, he did weigh the possibility it was just a string of dreams that only fueled one another, but he was comforted by the fact that Minato had spoken about things he could never have known about, or even imagined; the other containers for one thing. And also . . .

And also . . .

Naruto smiled softly. And also, that warm feeling of belonging was still there. He didn't think he could generate that on his own. He didn't know if he even knew what it felt like before now.

Nodding to himself, he decided to accept this new reality. Though he had expected scoffing from the more cynical part of him, it never came. Acknowledging it felt even better than he thought it would. Light and freeing in a way Naruto couldn't really explain.

Besides, what would it take then for him to believe it was true if not the information he could never have dreamed up?

He spent the rest of his shift floating on cloud nine. Already, he was fantasizing about all the cool new jutsu his father would teach him. Learning about the rest of his family was also something he was looking forward to. Questions about his mother teetered on his lips, and the idea that he _would _be able to ask sometime made him grin.

Eventually, the rest of his team woke up. Groggy and irritated, they were still in better condition than they had been last night.

"What're you so happy about?" Sakura grumbled, noticing the cheerful expression on Naruto's face as they ate their meager breakfast of nuts and berries.

The blond rocked back on his heels, and smiled to distract her from the truth. "Just glad to be alive. I've got a good feeling about today!" He really did. Everything from here on out would be better. He just knew it.

Sakura smiled and replied, "I know what you mean. We'll get that scroll today!"

Two seconds later, Sakura froze at her words and Naruto scratched the back of his head, and gave her a slightly odd look.

"I mean— uhh." Sakura was panicking inwardly. Why had she said that?

Unbeknownst to the other two, Sasuke had barely resisted the impulse to express his similar feelings on the matter. He had wrestled with the urge, and had been forced to bite his tongue to stop himself. That feeling of confidence, however fleeting, had lifted his spirits to soaring heights. He truly felt that things would be better and happier. The sensation was fleeting, and regretted his weakness in giving into it.

Outwardly he snapped at the other two to be quiet. They couldn't afford to waste time on talk like that. They had a mission to do.

"Right now we should see if we can find another team who's weakened at the moment," Sasuke started, drawing Naruto's and Sakura's attention back to the impending danger of the forest and their trickling amount of time.

"Naruto, make some shadow clones to scout out the area."

The blond made a face at how Sasuke took charge, but he began gathering his chakra nonetheless. It was not without a small grumble of, "Who died and made you Hokage?"

A swirl of rebelliousness overcame Sasuke and he wanted to challenge Naruto. '_What are you going to do about it, huh?_' Once more, the words had been on the tipping point, just about to spill out, but he bit them back with no lack of effort. Just like before, the urge and feeling vacated his body so suddenly it left him startled and bewildered. Catching the frozen look on Sakura's face, he knew she had experienced something similar.

Sasuke cleared his throat, trying to shove whatever happened out of his mind. "Sometime today would be nice, dobe."

He received a mild glare from Naruto, but the majority of the blond's focus was centered in his chakra channel. "Give me a second," he said, "That snake-bastard Orochimaru fucked with my chakra system. It's a lot harder to get control of my chakra."

Finally, he managed to create about thirty clones and they departed into the forest to scan the area. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged confused looks.

"Orochimaru?" The kunoichi asked. "Is that his name?"

The blond stopped suddenly as he realized what he'd said. The nervousness he felt was palpable, but he smiled weakly anyways. "Yeah, I read it in a book somewhere. He's the only guy who summons snakes, so . . ."

Naruto was lying. It was blatantly obvious. Sasuke knew it for a fact. The blond had always been easy to read. Though he gathered this knowledge through a new medium aside from his observation skills this time. Sasuke had been able to _feel_ the lie. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. That shouldn't have been possible. From the expression on Sakura's face, he knew he wasn't alone in this new situation. He frowned.

They really couldn't afford to think too hard about it though. Perhaps the forest was finally getting to him. Sasuke cautiously dismissed the occurrence from his mind.

The trio had sat around the cave, all wrapped up in their own thoughts. The air was uncomfortable as each of them tried to puzzle out the disconcerting feelings racing about.

When a Naruto clone descended from the trees, the feeling ceased, and things settled back to normal. The sudden change made Sasuke and Sakura start slightly. "What is it?"

"There are a group of ninja near the river about three hundred meters from here," the Naruto clone reported before poofing out of existence. Sasuke was torn between wincing and grinning. Three hundred meters was fairly close. They had been fortunate they hadn't been discovered by the enemy ninja. Quietly, the Uchiha thanked whatever luck it was that had allowed them to be unnoticed. Now team seven had the opportunity to get the jump on them and turn the exam around.

"What's their status?" The Uchiha asked.

Sasuke and Sakura turned to their blond teammate. They both sighed as they realized the replica had already dissolved.

Naruto was ignorant to their looks and instead scratched his head thoughtfully. "It looks like they're recovering from a fight."

Silence greeted his answer.

"Is there something on my face?" The blond asked as he registered the shock and noticed the looks he was receiving.

"How do you know that Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"What do you mean?" The container didn't understand the question.

"She means, dobe, how do you know that when the clone already dispersed." Sasuke said impatiently.

That stopped the blond as he tried to backpedal and understand how he had gotten the knowledge. "I— I don't know," He finally said.

The cogs in the Uchiha's head were turning. The conclusion he reached seemed impossible, but at the same time, it explained a lot.

"Can it be that you remember everything that your clones know?" Sakura asked, reaching the same answer.

"Huh?"

"Dobe, get rid of another one of your clones." The curt order made Naruto glare, and Sasuke responded in kind.

"Stop glaring at Sasuke-kun," Sakura snapped, unknowingly making a matching expression.

Naruto acquiesced to Sasuke's order, though not happily by any means.

"Where was your clone?" Sasuke asked.

"Eh? Uh, he was near Ino, Shikamaru, and Chaoji," He replied automatically, before what he said finally caught up to him. "How did I know that?"

"You remember everything your clones learn." Sakura tone was surprised as they confirmed the theory.

"This entire time you never noticed?" Sasuke rubbed his temples, trying to combat the urge to hit Naruto for his stupidity. Of course Naruto didn't realize he was gaining extra knowledge every time a clone dispersed. This was Naruto they were talking about after all.

Naruto exclaimed, "Hey, you never noticed either!"

"I wasn't the one making the clones, usuratonkachi!" The sense of annoyance sat heavily in his mind and he didn't know why he was getting frustrated with Naruto so easily. The stress of the exam must have finally been sinking in.

"We don't have time for this!" Surprisingly, it was Sakura who said it, "Can we just finish the exam already? I'm tired," the pink-haired kunoichi grew quiet and disheartened. "I really just want to go home."

The sadness in her voice was palpable. The sense of homesickness hit Sasuke with a hammer and he found himself also wishing he could just be home too, curled up in his bed.

He shook the thought violently from his mind, revulsion taking root. They were ninja and ninja didn't get homesick. Not only that but they were on the field. They all knew better than to cave to feelings like that. Well, perhaps Sakura and Naruto didn't know all that much better, but Sasuke certainly did.

'So_ then why am I feeling this way?_'

Sasuke frowned and turned his mind towards the exams. When they finished, they'd get this all figured out. They couldn't focus on this right now— whatever this was anyways.

"Then let's get this taken care of. We'll survey the area and figure out a plan for attack." Sasuke had anticipated some derisive snorts and comments from his blond teammate, but was pleasantly surprised when he found an equally determined expression on his face.

Gathering their belongings, the trio carefully, and rather slowly, due to Sasuke's and Naruto's poor condition, (much to the two boys' frustration and dismay,) made their way to the river bank. Thankfully, the enemy team had yet to leave or pull themselves together any more since the clone had last seen them. Observing them from the safety of the thick trees, it became apparent that the foreign shinobi were starting to crack under the pressure of the exam. Team seven watched one of their members, a redheaded man, curse up a storm as he argued with one of his companions. The scroll was in his hand and he waved it furiously at his other brunette teammate as if trying to make a point.

Sasuke shared an uneasy look with his team.

"Something's fishy about this . . ." Naruto trailed off, knowing something was askew. What it was exactly, had escaped him. The sense was pervasive though.

Sakura nodded, though she had put the pieces together already. "Arguing with one another with the scroll out in the open— it's almost too perfect."

"They're either plotting something, or they're really just inexperienced," the Uchiha murmured, mostly to himself.

"Hmm, they look like they're really hurt to me." The _jinchuuriki_ squinted as he tried to see the details of their enemies.

"They could be using a henge," Sakura reminded him.

Sasuke had reached a similar conclusion and without another word he channeled chakra to his eyes. "**_Sharingan_**!"

The results made him purse his lips even more.

"What do you see, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura stared at her crush with stars in her eyes. Sasuke-kun was just so cool!

A strong wave of affection blindsided the Uchiha and he found himself scrambling to recover from the whitewash.

"I— um, I don't see any signs of a henge," he spoke unusually ineloquent. What the hell was that about? There was a dopey grin on Naruto's face, and it only furthered Sasuke's confusion and suspicion.

"What's the plan?" The pink-haired girl ushered the answer from him.

Sasuke tried to gather himself back together, but all this emotional upheaval left him in a state of disarray. "We should try to get closer and see if we can figure out why they're arguing. It might be useful information."

"Right," Sakura nodded her head.

"Sounds good," Naruto mirrored her tone perfectly, earning him two slightly bemused looks. The blond didn't bat an eyelash. "Then we pummel them."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "No dobe, then we plan again."

"Plan to pummel them."

Sakura and Sasuke sighed and shook their heads in synchronized exasperation.

After a quick and sharp lecture from Sakura, (which was more of a verbal smackdown than anything else,) the team had decided to send a Naruto clone in a henge of a small animal to get closer. The risk factor for injury was practically at zero, so despite the fact that there was a possibility their cover would be blown if the henge was revealed, they settled on that option.

It took Naruto a couple tries to get his chakra in order, but he succeeded eventually. Due to his miserable control, (thanks in part to Orochimaru,) he created ten instead of just one. Thankfully, his teammates remained quiet as he dispersed the extras leaving just one. Sasuke and Sakura went over the plan with the two Narutos again. Both of them rolled their eyes and exchanged empathetic looks with each other before the clone followed the orders. Or at least tried to. This time it seemed the clone couldn't get enough chakra gathered. Naruto could feel their impatience and it mixed poorly at with his own frustration. Finally they saw a cloud of smoke and heard a popping sound.

Naruto blinked at the miniature orange fox that appeared at their feet. The clone thought he was being awfully funny, didn't it? Naruto was half-tempted to kick it over and make it disperse, but thought better of it. He settled for glaring at the copy of himself fiercely.

In reply, the fox scrambled behind Sakura's legs in a mock show of fear. The fact it was sticking out its tongue rather ruined the effect.

"Naruto, knock it off!" Sakura said unhappily as she tried to get the cloned fox away from her.

"Get a move on dobe, we don't have all day," Sasuke snapped with equal irritation. The fox hissed in sync with the original, but the former finally slunk away with all the stealth and quickness of its breed.

The trio watched with bated breath as the furry creature scampered to the river to pretend to drink. Hopefully the foreign nin wouldn't know that foxes weren't indigenous in Konoha. They used to be, but the majority had been wiped out after the Kyuubi attack. The small creatures had brought up too many bad memories, (in addition to being a convenient outlet for the anger.) Sasuke and Sakura each wanted to punch Naruto and shake him repeatedly. Of all the creatures he could have picked, why the hell did he choose that one?

So far things seemed to be going alright. The two arguing teammates were still shouting at each other, blind to anything else around them. After a few minutes, the third shinobi of the group, a mauve-haired kunoichi, came back from gathering firewood. It quickly became clear who was the strongest (at least tactically,) on the team as she scanned the surroundings clinically. Her eyes settled on the little orange fox lapping the water from the river. Before any of them could blink, she had thrown a kunai with deadly precision.

The ears of the orange fox pricked up. The sound of an approaching kunai was enough to startle the rodent. In a way that was almost comical, the little creature fell face-first into the river, inadvertently missing the kunai. The pathetic show and keening of the wet fox as it was being swept away was proof enough and the on-edge kunoichi slumped as her fears had been unfounded. She wearily turned to her two teammates who had finally noticed her appearance.

Team seven quickly and quietly departed down the river, where the fox had traveled. Sasuke smirked slightly. He couldn't have planned that better himself. They reached a shallow section just as the Naruto fox pulled itself out of the water shakily, looking like a thoroughly drowned rat. The replica undid the henge, but before it could speak, Sasuke tossed a kunai at the clone and effectively dispersed it.

"Why did you do that?!" Naruto rounded on him with a stormy expression.

Sasuke bit back the anger that welled up and instead kept the boiling water under wraps. Displaying a calmness and nonchalance he didn't really feel, he just scoffed. "It's quicker this way. What did you learn?"

Naruto's mouth opened in realization. Sasuke could practically feel the dumb surprise coming from his teammate and resisted the urge to shout at the dunce. The blond took a few moments to sift through the collection of new memories.

"Did you figure out what they were arguing about?" Sakura asked, trying to urge the knowledge out of her teammate.

"Ah, yeah," Naruto said finally, "One of them wants to open their scroll, and the other doesn't."

The pink-haired girl furrowed her brow. "That's against the rules though."

"Remember the first exam, Sakura?" The Uchiha reminded her, "The objective was to cheat without getting caught. Those foreign ninja probably thinks it's the same trick."

"What do you think?" The kunoichi's blind-trust forced Sasuke to look away. Normally he barely noticed it and didn't mind all that much because it made it easier to accomplish their goals. This time though, he could practically feel the complete faith. That sensation was moderately disconcerting.

"I don't think we should open it," Sasuke said finally. These rules didn't have the same subterfuge as the first exam. "Last time, the rules guided us to arrive at the conclusion that cheating was the objective. This time the rules seem to be pretty solid. Besides, it seems unlikely that they would try the same trick twice."

Sakura nodded in understanding, catching onto his train of thoughts.

Sasuke looked upward and assessed the approximate time. The sun would set in a few hours. They needed to hurry and get the scroll so they had adequate time to make it to the tower. "Let's watch the other team and wait for a chance to strike."

The trio moved quietly back to their original stakeout point to observe the team. Even from far away, team seven was able to tell that tensions were still high amongst the group. Sasuke smirked. Exactly what he was hoping for.

While waiting, the trio sent a Naruto clone to go find them food and double check to see if their small encampment had been discovered while they were away. They had made sure to hide any traces of their existence while they were gone, but nonetheless, a skilled tracking nin could always find it. The discovery that Naruto retained his clone's knowledge revolutionized their planning. Sasuke's mind was whirling with all the applications and clever ways they could utilize the ability. Naruto would instantly be able to relay knowledge from thousands of meters away upon the destruction of the clone. No chance of collateral damage when exploring or investigating, and flawless recall. It was a perfect jutsu.

Sasuke was itching to learn it himself, but he remembered what Kakashi said about how much chakra it used. Reluctantly, he had to admit that using that much would probably put him out of commission, or practically deplete his chakra storages making the remainder of his jutsu worthless. No, it was wiser to continue to have Naruto use them for the team's use. The dobe had chakra to spare, and Sasuke wasn't the kind of person to let that be without using it to their advantage. Besides, he had a feeling that the only one who would teach him would be Naruto, and he couldn't allow the blond to think he was superior in any way.

Night began to fall, and team seven was starting to feel the dull boredom that came with staking out an area for hours. Naruto repeatedly moved into fits of complaining asking why they couldn't just pummel them now, and griping about how uncomfortable it was. A few hits from Sakura did the trick for shutting him up.

It probably was because they were staking out and it was taxing on the nerves, but Sakura wasn't feeling any better after taking a few swings at the blond. Usually it gave her an outlet to let off some steam and calm down some. Now it just made her feel even worse than before.

She couldn't help but feel that the forest was chipping at her sanity.

Thankfully, after dark fell, they didn't have to wait very long. They watched the group crouch near each other and discuss what Sasuke assumed to be the guard shift. It only made sense for them to leave the scroll with the single person who was awake. They could see the redhead furiously shouting at the brunette man, whom they now assumed had the first shift, probably threatening him. The other nin scoffed but said something to mitigate his teammate.

After an hour, (just to make it more likely that the other two nin were really asleep,) it was time for team seven to make a move.

"So what do we do now?" Sakura whispered.

Mulling the matter over in his mind, Sasuke frowned. He didn't like the set up at all. It seemed too perfect. The entire thing could possibly have been a show meant to trick them from the very point that they stumbled across the camp and saw the 'fight.' Despite that, the foreign kunoichi's reaction suggested otherwise, but that also could have been planned . . . Sasuke frowned. He was either underestimating their tactical abilities or severely overestimating them. Whatever the case was, they needed to strike now before they lost their chance.

Before Sasuke could make a decision as to how they would attack, he noticed the faintest shimmer around the edges of the foreign shinobi's outline. His eyes widened, and he quickly activated his sharingan.

Just as he thought. The other ninja had created a mud-clone to take his place before sneaking away. Sasuke's suspicion that it had all been a setup from the beginning waned when he realized that the enemy- nin's two companions were solid, and genuine. Scanning their immediate surroundings, he noticed a faint hint of chakra further down the river, but it was nowhere near where team seven was positioned. Only the brunette shinobi had made a clone and snuck away . . . could it be possible?

"That ninja's just a clone," he informed his teammates absently as he deactivated his sharingan and began forming a plan in his mind. "The original is about one hundred meters south east."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed, irritated.

"Naruto, this is a good thing," Sakura spoke as if she was giving a lecture. "This means we can attack him three-to-one."

"Alright! Let's get him!" the blond smiled excitedly.

"When we get there, stay and wait for my command." The Uchiha mostly directed this to Naruto, and the latter scoffed and looked away. The excitement of actual confrontation was too much to sour his mood though.

Unlike her teammate, the idea of confrontation made Sakura's heart beat nervously in her chest.

Despite how many times in the academy she'd gone over scenarios like this, she was so unsure it made her tremble. The reality of the situation coupled with the very real threat of danger made it clear to her how inapplicable and inadequate those word problems were. Really being in the situation was nothing like that. There were so many ways the enemy could react, countless variables in the setting, weather, weapons, sun position, time— in everything. There was no preparing for this harsh world she had signed up for when she was a little girl. This certainly hadn't been what she imagined, nor aspired to. Sasuke was the only thing on her mind, not actually accomplishing the missions or surviving life-threatening conditions. She had become a ninja to stare at her crush every day. In the end, she had gotten her wish. Sakura was on Sasuke's team, and every day she could, (and did) stare.

The reality of that was also nothing like she had thought it would be. The reality of the situation was that she was deadweight. That was a thousand times worse than being the dead-last, who had proven to be invaluable many times over. She hated Naruto simply because despite how poorly he had done at the academy, he was proving to be a far more competent ninja than Sakura was, and that wasn't fair. She studied so hard! All she wanted was for Sasuke to see how brilliant she was. Her plan seemed to have backfired spectacularly as time and time again she had to be saved by not only Sasuke, but Naruto as well.

Gritting her teeth against the bitter taste on her lips, she promised herself that if she survived this exam, she would train. Sakura would train harder than any kunoichi even had in the history of the world. No more shying away from hard work! First she would surpass Naruto and Ino and everyone else who stood in her way! Then she would take her rightful place besides the Uchiha— where she belonged. With that goal in mind, she steeled herself to the task ahead of her, and vowed to be as useful as she could be.

She was startled out of her musings by a firm clap on the shoulder by Naruto, who matched the determined look on her face with one of his own. Taken by surprise, she didn't have time to react negatively, (or at all for that matter,) because the next thing she knew, they were heading out after the nin. She followed after her two teammates in textbook single-file.

The first thing she heard on arrival was a slightly manic laugh.

"—fools if they want to be. I'm done playing this stupid game."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he quickly took in the situation. The brunette foreign ninja was inches away from pulling the outer seal off of the scroll.

"He's gonna open the scroll!" Sakura exclaimed in a barely hushed tone.

"Yosh!" That was all the warning Naruto gave before he started running in, twenty clones appearing and following right after. They quickly began to engage the enemy in an all-out brawl.

Sasuke let out a hiss as he batted away the immense frustration and consequential migraine that dealing with his blond teammate always brought about. "Idiot." He let out a long sigh. "We have to salvage this mission. Come on."

Sakura nodded with resolve. Unlike Naruto, who had run in headfirst, Sasuke circumvented the situation so that he was hovering on the edges of the foliage at an angle to their enemy. The nin hadn't noticed them yet due to Naruto's brash behavior, and Sasuke took advantage of that distraction to slowly begin closing the distance on his side.

"Sakura, apply a deterrent genjutsu," Sasuke murmured lightly into her ear. Giddy and amative shivers worked their way across Sakura's skin. Sasuke nearly shouted in alarm as he felt similar pinpricks. The resulting blush sent him spiraling into mortification. He shook his head desperately, trying to clear the fog and distraction all the oscillating emotions had caused.

"What the hell?!" Naruto exclaimed. The Uchiha jerked his eyes that way in apprehension. Naruto was fine, despite the distinct flush of red, that is.

A slow and horrifying idea was beginning to form in his mind, but with the enemy only meters away, he was forced to lock his jaw and push it aside.

After this, they would settle things. They had to settle things. Any more of this and Sasuke was going to lose his mind.

While he had been occupied with his perturbing thoughts, Sakura had quickly applied the genjutsu as Sasuke had instructed. Thankfully, she had missed his fit of rosy cheeks. If she hadn't Sasuke was certain he would have offed himself then and there from the sheer embarrassment. Uchiha's did not blush.

The purpose of the genjutsu Sakura executed was to direct the targets attention away from the attacker. The effect was that the foreign shinobi was slightly dissuaded from looking in their direction. It was a basic D-rank, but invaluable in missions that required inconspicuous action, such as investigation.

In the end, the jutsu might have been pointless, because Naruto was kicking up such a fit, (to the twelfth power, as there were a dozen replicas reacting similarly,) that Sasuke seriously doubted the enemy ninja would stop staring at the spectacle that was their teammate any time soon.

It wasn't until they were just a meter away, and Sakura's foot landed awkwardly and accidently knocked a pebble aside, that the foreign shinobi noticed their existence. As Sasuke spotted the stiffening of the enemy's posture, he was already moving in with a kunai. The target's reflexes were enough to block Sasuke's attack, but they weren't enough to cover the punch delivered from his blond teammate from behind.

With a few more quick jabs delivered by Sasuke, the enemy was down for the count. Naruto let out a cheer, and though both teammates smiled in mirroring relief, they quickly realized that the danger of the situation had not ended. Swiftly and silently, the trio dragged the body into the underbrush, in case one of the foreign nin's teammates came looking for him.

Within the weapons pouch, they discovered their prize. A heaven scroll was held reverently in Sakura's hands. Sasuke quickly raided the unconscious man's supply of items, pleased to find a couple ration bars, some wire, shuriken, and kunai. The somewhat large collection of explosive tags was a surprise though not unwelcome. He quickly divided them with his teammates. Afterwards, Sasuke and Naruto promptly abandoned the body back where they fought. Sakura tried her hand at a sleeping jutsu, hoping to keep him knocked out for a day at least. Sakura's chakra was practically exhausted, so she couldn't firmly assert that it had worked. Despite that, she hoped that because he was already unconscious and most likely had a concussion, (mostly due to the direct blow from her blond teammate and his power-packed right hook,) the genjutsu would work and he would stay under. Not only would that cripple his team in manpower and put them at a tactical disadvantage, but it would also ensure that he wouldn't come after them. Their anonymity could save them a lot of trouble in the long run.

Nodding to each other and exchanging hard-earned smiles, (smirks in Sasuke's case,) the trio quickly departed to their temporary encampment. The trip back was eerily quiet as each of them was wrapped up in their own thoughts and the puzzle of the recent happenings. Sasuke quickly directed a quick circle around the perimeter of the clearing.

Finding nothing was wrong, the three reconvened at the base of the cave.

Staring at each other, the anxiety that had slowly been building up all day was finally being let out. The combined collection of the three's feelings was like undamming a tsunami of fretfulness. The rush swept over them, raising their heartbeats and thoroughly unsettling their thoughts.

"Wh—what's going on?" Sakura finally asked. The fear in her voice joined perfectly with the boys.'

Naruto shook his head jerkily. "I don't know!" The frustration mixed with the distress. The two feelings complimented each other in a miserable combination.

"I'm having these _feeling_s, and they aren't my own." Sasuke spat out the words like them were venom.

"Me too." Naruto fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I think they're your emotions that I'm feeling," Sasuke said with narrow eyes as he stared at Naruto and Sakura. It took a few moments for the statement to actually sink into his teammates' minds.

Naruto stared incredulously. "Like what, we're sharing emotions? That's stupid!"

"Do you have a better explanation?" Sasuke asked tetchily.

"It could be a genjutsu?" Sakura suggested, wringing her hands.

Without a word, Sasuke activated his sharingan. Just like before, he was coming up with nothing. He had suspected as much. Sasuke would have noticed it when he activated it before. Making sure didn't hurt, and double-checking was never a bad idea . . .

He delivered a swift thwack.

"Damnit Sasuke-teme! Stop hitting me!"

"Stop yelling at Sasuke-kun!"

The rush of anger the Uchiha felt confirmed his fear that it wasn't related to a jutsu. "I'm checking for genjutsu you idiot!"

"Well _soooorrryyy!"_ Naruto sarcastically replied, "It might help a little if you said something first!"

"You should already know this, dobe!"

"Teme—"

"Just calm down!" Sakura cut through their argument. "Stop it with the anger, I can't deal with it!"

Sasuke forced himself to take a few deep breaths and saw Naruto copy.

"I guess it's safe to assume that we aren't in a genjutsu." Sakura stated at last.

Sasuke sighed. "No genjutsu."

Silence reigned for several minutes, the group simply absorbing the information and trying to grasp what was going on.

"So for whatever reason, we're sharing emotions with each other?" Sakura asked; the question was still laced with doubt.

Sasuke nodded grudgingly. The truth of the matter was undeniable. "It's possible that snake ninja— Orochimaru," he corrected, "—did something to us."

"What did he do to you Naruto?" Sakura asked, "All I saw was him hitting you in the stomach with some weird chakra."

The anxiety he was feeling betrayed his calm and nonchalant words. "I dunno, he just messed up my chakra system. I don't think that has a lot to do with what's going on with the three of us."

Sasuke scanned his teammate. He was hiding something, but what he'd said felt true at least. Weighing the matter in his mind, Sasuke decided not to push the subject right now. He would later when they had more time and weren't in a survivalist competition.

"So, if it wasn't to do with him hitting you with that chakra, then what was it?" Sasuke asked slowly. Though the team had recognized the problem, (that in and of itself turned out to be a taxing and arduous ordeal,) figuring out the cause was turning out to be more puzzling still. The trio ruminated over the matter, and it was several minutes before Sakura finally snapped her fingers in realization.

Her delight at possibly figuring out what happened morphed into an awkward and nearly fearful mindset. The two boys stared at her with perplexity.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, as he tried to shake off the apprehension that was settling around them.

She hesitated a second more. "Could it be . . . What he did to your neck, Sasuke-kun?"

Reflexively, Sasuke's hand shot to his neck which still ached from the attack.

Naruto stared between the two with a confused expression, "What happened to Sasuke's neck?"

"That Orochimaru guy he uh— well, he—" She stumbled over her words, trying to find a better way of putting it.

"He bit me and then ran away," Sasuke finished bluntly.

The statement sat in the humid forest air for a few moments before it was joined by the guffaws of the blond ninja.

"H—he what?!" Naruto asked with a quivering smile. He had to hear Sasuke repeat the sidesplitting sentence.

A few chuckles forced their way past Sasuke's lips before he could stop them. "It isn't funny," he tried vainly. Thinking about the strange occurrence, it was rather funny. Why the snake-summoner picked masticating him out of all the other things he could have done, Sasuke would never know.

"He gave you a hickey?! That was his ultimate attack?" Naruto began giggling and Sasuke chortled even more.

The light and mirthful exchange didn't last for very long, because a new and overpowering anger began to build from the pink-haired kunoichi.

"It isn't funny, Naruto!" She shouted, "Do you know how scary it was to see that happen!?"

Naruto quelled from her wrath, but Sasuke responded with a dose of his own anger, "Shhh! Sakura shut up! You'll give away our position!"

She immediately wilted and settled back into a meeker state, abashed at her angry behavior.

"Why do you think the emotions flip like that?" Naruto asked his teammates. "Y'know, like why did it go from funny to angry?"

"Hn." That was a good question actually. All of them were forced to stumble around in the dark as they tried to figure out the edges and corners to their new situation.

"Maybe it's whatever emotion is stronger?" The pink haired-kunoichi put in thoughtfully. The logic seemed sound. They didn't have an exact way to prove right now, so it was tentatively agreed upon for the moment. Sasuke in particular decided to file that theory away for further analysis. Perhaps if he was getting overwhelmed by his teammates, he could try to fight back with one of his own emotions and smother the two of them instead. He needed some way to stop all the bleed-through. It was driving him up the wall.

"So what's the deal with the bite?" Naruto asked, bringing the matter back around.

"I'm not sure. My neck kind of hurts, but otherwise I think I'm fine," Sasuke replied.

"Lemme see." Naruto grinned foxily as he moved near his teammate. He wanted to see the love-bite. "Woah! Sasuke, there's something here."

"What is it?" Sasuke shifted as he tried to see for himself.

"It's sort of like—" Naruto's words failed him as he observed the complex red diagram on his friend's skin. It was shaped like a circle, and within there were thousands of characters in seemingly random order crisscrossing it. Below that, he could make out the faint outline of three tomoe.

"It looks kind of like a seal," Sakura put in with equal confusion.

"Orochimaru must have done it. That's probably the reason why then . . ." Sasuke's mood dropped to freezing point. As if he needed another reason to hate the snake-summoning bastard. It was clear that Orochimaru was to blame for this entire situation.

"Fuck." Naruto summed up the entire thing aptly. The other two sighed.

"What now?" Sakura asked.

"We need to finish the exam first off. Then we talk to Kakashi about this, he might be able to undo it— whatever it is."

The choice wasn't a pleasing one for any of them, but it wasn't as though there were a lot of options. For now, it seemed like they would have to put up with each other's moods until they found an earth scroll and finished the second exam.

Easier said than done.

"I think the best thing we can do is try and keep a lid on our emotions." Sasuke knew that Kami couldn't have picked two worse people to put in this situation besides Sakura and Naruto. The blond in particular had influenced them the most by far with his radical and extreme moods. Sakura was nowhere near innocent though. All the infatuation and over-emotional responses made him nauseous when he even thought about it.

"It's a major distraction having everyone's feelings running around in our heads, so we need to be careful," Sasuke continued, trying to press the importance of keeping control of their emotions. The duo nodded, but all of them knew exactly how difficult it would be to stop all the emotions leaking out.

The night was already upon them, so it was obvious that sleep was in order. Before they could even figure out an arrangement for a guard shift, the sound of talking sent all of them on high alert. They quickly backed into the crevasses of the cave, hiding themselves from view. A group of three foreign shinobi exited from the trees.

"—on't know why it's taking you so long?!" The voice was definitely male and the irritation he felt was rampant.

"Shut up. It's harder than it looks!" A female voice replied irritably.

The Konoha trio watched with bated breath and tightly grasped kunai to see if the foreign nin would approach them, but they were moderately surprised to find them walking cleanly around the perimeter of the clearing. It was suspicious to say the least.

Was it possible the enemies hadn't noticed them?

They could make out the vague forms of the people. The girl had long straight locks and one of the boys had spiky hair, and the other—

"It's the guy that attacked Kabuto," Sakura whispered in remembrance. These guys were the ninja from the sound village.

"Hurry up and find the Uchiha brat, Kin. I'm sick of this forest," The spiky-haired boy said. His words sent massive ripples out to team seven.

Sakura felt panic swell in her chest. Looking for Sasuke-kun? But why?

"Sakura, calm down," the Uchiha hissed, trying to stabilize his rapidly beating heart.

"Right, sorry." The embarrassment and apology in the air was enough. With a few deep breaths, the static in the air began to settle down.

Luckily, the other ninja appeared not to hear.

"Ugh! I don't understand why I can't find him!" The female of the group, whose name was apparently 'Kin,' cursed, "All the tracks lead here, but it just cuts off so suddenly!"

"Clearly you aren't trying hard enough," the boy shot back, annoyance clear in his tone.

"Did you want to give it a try, Zaku?" Kin shot back venomously. "Your tracking skills are absolutely pathetic. I don't even know why you got put on this mission."

"Because someone has to fight when we catch the Uchiha."

"I know; that's why I'm here. Perhaps it's more to do with keeping up with appearances," Kin said with a cruel smirk. "It would be awfully strange to only have two teammates, and someone probably has to drop out to keep suspicion away."

"You stupid bitch!" Zaku hissed in reply. The girl just gave a cold laugh as she watched him steam.

"Shut up," the ninja that looked like a mummy finally spoke with a low voice. Out of the three, he seemed to be the most levelheaded by far. "Orochimaru-sama won't tolerate this kind of behavior. Keep it together you two."

The three leaf nin shared a brief flare of surprise and nervousness. Everything seemed to come back full-circle to the snake summoner. All of them were wondering what his deal was with Sasuke. The Uchiha had never met, or even heard of the man before yesterday, and suddenly he was a very active presence in the events occurring around the young clan heir.

Eventually, the sound of the enemy shinobi's voices moved away from the group, moving towards the river. Team seven remained frozen for fifteen minutes, no one felt comfortable moving after their close brush with danger. It was only after Sasuke pulled on the sharingan and did a brief scan and confirmed there was no genjutsu, did the three finally step out from the shadow of the cave. Sasuke growled at his low chakra supply. Activating the sharingan as much as he had, even if it was only for a few seconds, was more taxing than it should have been. After this he would be training for certain.

"What the hell does that snake-bastard want with you?" Naruto grit out shakily, still feeling the aftereffects of the apprehension from before.

Wouldn't Sasuke like to know. It was frustrating seeing the enemy clearly creating plans to do something with him, and not knowing a single detail or explanation about it. The big question on his mind though was what their aims were? What did they hope to gain through finding him?

"This place is compromised." Sasuke tried to rearrange himself back into the cold and clinical shinobi mindset. Easier said than done when the sharp teeth of his teammates' emotions –nervousness and bewilderment— were gnawing at him from the inside.

"Should we send a clone to scout for another location?" Sakura asked her crush.

The black-haired boy shook his head. After their near encounter with the enemy, Sasuke didn't want to spend another minute here if they could avoid it. "We can't stay here any longer."

His stony attitude was hard to argue with. All of them were still wary of what had just happened so in no time flat, they had cleared the area of their existence and prepared to leave. Sasuke squinted at the red edifice at the horizon. The sound ninja had headed towards the river, which meant their best bet was to start moving the opposite direction. Sadly, this meant towards the tower, where there would no doubt be several teams waiting to ambush them. Still, that was less intimidating than the three sound shinobi and their unidentified, (though no doubt mal-intended,) plan for him.

Sasuke quickly relayed his thoughts to the other two, but the distracted air around his pink-haired teammate forced him to clear his throat. He had never actually needed to get her attention. "We're leaving Sakura."

She nodded distantly and spent a few more seconds staring back at the cave, as though there was something more to it— something more that Sasuke couldn't see. She gave the slightest incline, almost like a bow, before her gaze moved back to the present. Without another word, they exchanged quick, (though exhausted) nods, and took to the trees.

* * *

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**More awesomeness to come next week! :D**

**We have some pretty neat things coming up. **

**Soooo the seal Minato added in has some unexpected effects . . . Thoughts?**

**RE**_view?_


	3. What to Make of it

**Hello again! Thanks for the reviews and favs! **

**I update on Sunday!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: What to Make of it**

* * *

"Orochimaru-sama." Head bent low, Kabuto kneeled before his master.

"Kabuto." Orochimaru's grin was still delighted from his work earlier that day. "How did Sasuke-kun do?"

The Sannin awaited a positive response. There had never been a doubt in his mind that the youngest Uchiha would reach and surpass every expectation put before him. The hatred in those eyes told Orochimaru everything he needed to know about the boy. An avenger trying to kill his brother. Seeking strength from hate— one time or another he would end up before Orochimaru. The curse was simply meant to speed things up. The snake-summoner had enough faith in the boy's acrimony to count on his presence in the near future. If everything went as planned, he would have a sharingan at his disposal before the next year.

Sasuke possessed such beautiful hostility . . . Channeling that had already made him quite the prize indeed. With Orochimaru's nurturing, the potential was unimaginable. Yes, Sasuke was perfect.

So when he noticed the grey-haired teen hesitating, he felt inimical surprise build. Could it be possible that Orochimaru had miscalculated?

"Kin, Zaku and Dozu, were unable to track them."

The silence was like stagnant water.

Yes, that certainly had not been something Orochimaru calculated. That equation never entered the frame. Kin was the one of the greatest trackers in Sound. She had tracked hunter-nin before. There was no way that three genin could escape her senses. Perhaps the Sannin had merely underestimated their strength. Then again, there was always the chance that an outlying force was behind this. Was it possible that Kakashi had gotten involved? The feeling in Orochimaru's stomach told him that the latter was extremely unlikely. So then what happened?

He hesitated.

"Orochimaru-sama, there is a possibility that your cover has been blown. It might be best if you disappeared until the final event. I shall stay and investigate in your stead." Kabuto spoke lowly, and kept his head bent and eyes averted. Whenever trying to suggest anything to Orochimaru-sama, it was wisest to do so as delicately as possible. The Sannin was prone to openly display how he felt about the advice people gave him. It was taken directly as an insult if not handled with extreme care. Kabuto felt more than comfortable in his standing with the Sannin, but that didn't mean he wished to tempt fate.

So when Orochimaru thought on the matter for more than a moment, Kabuto let out a breath.

"Perhaps you are right," Orochimaru said. The displeasure was easy to see. "I'll lay low, for now. See that you find the boy and report to me on the status of his seal as soon as you can."

"Of course Orochimaru-sama."

"And do make sure he passes this exam," the snake summoner said, "I want to see him first hand in the finals. I think he'll prove worthy of the mark." A wide smile spread over Orochimaru's face as he thought of the prospect.

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

Naruto slumped against the wooden doors of the towers in his exhaustion. His teammates weren't far behind him. Iruka's dramatic revelation of their passing grade was the frosting on the cake that had been full of adrenaline, stress, and tenseness. To finally be rid of it left him feeling empty and in need of a re-charge.

"W—we did it," he commented belatedly. A weary smile was turned his way.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed.

Sasuke shook his head. "If it wasn't for Kabuto giving us that last scroll, I don't know if we would have made it."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter. We won!"

"Naruto! This isn't a like a game," Sakura scolded.

"Yeah, I think I had that one figured when I got swallowed by the giant snake," Naruto trailed off, making his teammates exchange looks over his head. "Anyways, the point is, we made it! Now let's eat! I'm so starved I could eat one of those big ass snakes!"

"Naruto, the last thing I want to think about is snakes at this point."

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, I just can't wait to eat some Ichiraku Ramen. Ten bowls at lea—"

There was a large puff of grey smoke, and a familiar jonin stood casually in the dispersing gas.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said in surprise and greeting.

"Hey look Kaka-sensei! We finished the exam, and we had time to spare! How awesome are we?! It was all thanks to my superior ninja skills," Naruto said, as he nodded in agreement to his own words. The irritation he felt building was enough of a clue that he should duck while he had a chance. He barely missed Sakura's fist by a hair's width.

"You're such a liar! Without Sasuke we all would have been dead meat!"

"Nu-uh! It's 'cause of Sasuke that we had that stupid snake freak after us to begin with."

Kakashi blinked. Snake freak? There were only two ninja who were adept at snake jutsu. He'd heard about Orochimaru's confrontation with Anko. Was it possible that he had gone after his genin? Why would he— Sasuke!

"The snake ninja, certainly sounds interesting," Kakashi commented with a falsely idle air. "What were they like? I'd be interested in knowing which village they came from. Very few people use snake jutsu."

"Orochimaru?" Sakura asked, missing the subtle widening of Kakashi's lone eye. "Well, he was seriously strong! We were lucky to make it out alive honestly."

"Yes you are." Kakashi spoke slowly. "I can't impress upon you the importance of who that man was, but you cannot speak about this to anyone except the Hokage and I."

"Believe you me, we understand how strong he is," Naruto said, more mutedly than before. "He's like one of the three strongest ninja ever, right?"

"Yes, I'm surprised at you Naruto. I didn't know you read up on that sort of thing."

Naruto shuffled a little nervously. "Yeah, well, I used to spend a lot of time in Oyaji's office. Lots of papers floating around."

Kakashi frowned slightly beneath his mask though he appeared indifferent on the outside.

"Were any of you hurt badly?"

When the three genin exchanged looks, Kakashi felt his stomach clench.

"What happened?"

"Well, uhm, that snake-guy kind of bit Sasuke and—"

"Where did he bite you?!"

"On the neck. There's some kind of seal mark there."

And there was some kind of seal mark, but it wasn't like anything Kakashi had ever seen before, and it certainly wasn't anything he expected from Orochimaru. He had expected a curse mark like the heaven. Wait, he could make out the faint outline of the curse of heaven mark below the large red one, but the strength of that seemed almost entirely eclipsed by the red crisscrossing characters.

That wasn't quite right though. Kakashi uncovered his sharingan eye to capture the full extent of the movement. It didn't just seem to eclipse the mark, it really did eclipse it. Every entry and exit level for the chakra of the mark was being captured and locked down before it even met with Sasuke's. He noticed the kids were flinching and staring nervously at him. He hadn't meant to scare them by pulling out the sharingan.

"What happened after Orochimaru bit you?" He asked with an unreadable expression as he re-covered his eye.

"I passed out from the pain," Sasuke grit out.

"Yeah, and Naruto got knocked out too when he did something funny." Sakura quickly added.

"What did he do to you?"

"Uhh, well he put these glowing purple-y things on his fingers and then slammed me right in the stomach." His aversion to meeting eyes clearly informed Kakashi exactly where on the stomach Orochimaru had hit him.

"You're alright?"

"Yeah, besides my chakra control being lots worse than normal, cause the chakra's running all over the place."

Kakashi was slightly surprised at how seemingly knowledgeable his student was about his body and his own chakra flow. "I'll fix that for you."

Naruto nodded for a few moments until the implications of his sensei's statement registered. If the seals that Orochimaru added to his stomach were what allowed him and his father to meet, then removing those seals would mean . . .

"No!" He shouted hastily, startling his teammates and his sensei.

"No?" Kakashi asked, his eye narrowing at his students suspicious reaction.

"W—well I mean—" Naruto scratched his head nervously, scrambling to make up some reason for Kakashi not to tamper with the seal.

Kakashi waited patiently for Naruto to gather himself.

"I just," Naruto finally managed, "I'd rather have old-man Hokage look at it, if that's okay." Naruto murmured looking at the floor and scuffing it with his toe.

The silver-haired jonin's singular eye widened in realization before softening. Naruto was clearly still embarrassed by the seal. Perhaps he was worried that Kakashi would care about the fox. He could never judge Naruto though, never. Minato's son was practically one of the only remaining things about his sensei Kakashi had left. Naruto was a physical, breathing symbol of his father's life and love of the village.

Perhaps he should take some time and talk to Naruto about the matter one of these days. He didn't want Naruto believing Kakashi had any sort of prejudice against him.

Kakashi rubbed his head, "I suppose that would be alright."

The relief in Naruto's eyes shone brightly. His other two teammates stared curiously at him, sensing the strange climate of emotions and relief and yet not knowing what exactly caused them. That didn't damper Naruto's mood. He'd pulled it off! He couldn't actually believe he'd done it! He wasn't worried about Old-man Hokage, because if anyone would believe him about this, it would be him.

"Alright, so Sasuke and Naruto were knocked out, and I'm assuming that you stood watch over them?" Kakashi asked, moving the story along. When Sakura nodded and blushed under the approving look in his eyes, Naruto giggled lightly, with a faintly similar blush on his face as well.

Kakashi raised a brow when he noticed Sasuke color slightly as well, though the Uchiha heir turned his face subtly in an attempt to hide it._ 'What was that about?_' The jonin thought to himself.

"Umm, something happened, after Orochimaru bit Sasuke I mean," Sakura managed finally, though with some difficulty.

"Oh?" Kakashi asked, trying to keep his budding concern from escaping his mouth.

"Ah— Well, yeah, it's sort of like, umm we kind of like—" The kunoichi's words were failing her.

"We think we've been feeling each other's emotions," Sasuke deadpanned from the corner.

The statement took a few seconds to actually register in Kakashi's mind.

"You think you've been feeling each other's emotions?" Kakashi asked, certain he had misheard something somewhere.

"It's more like sharing emotions," Sakura finally said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like if Naruto is getting angry for something stupid, I feel it and I get angry too."

"Are you certain of that?" They weren't lying— well they didn't think they were lying at any rate.

"Unfortunately."

Kakashi lifted his sharingan. He hadn't noticed anything when he used it before aside from Sasuke's seal, but if he stepped back and focused more heavily on all three of them . . .

"Hmm, I don't see anything."

The three exhaled in relief, in simple reaction to being told that nothing was wrong. That emotion flipped into unease once more as they realized that it mean that they still had no clue what was happening and why.

"That must mean that the connection must be in some other form," Kakashi murmured to himself. Neither Sakura nor Naruto seemed to have anything askew with them, aside from the various scratches and bruises and— wait.

"Sakura, what happened to your arm?"

The kunoichi blinked and stared down at the bandage around her forearm. "I guess I got a scratch," she said unconcernedly.

There was something wrong about what he was seeing. Out of all the injuries, the only one they had bothered to tie up was on Sakura's forearm. He knew for a fact none of them had any first aid supplies either, so it would have had to either been stolen, or improvised. Why this injury? It appeared to be negligible, no more serious than the rest of the scratches and scrapes the trio had accumulated, so why was this the sole bandaged wound?

"How did that happen?"

Sakura's brow furrowed. "I don't remember. We were fighting a lot sensei."

"Okay, when did you bandage it up?"

"I don't know."

Kakashi knew the signs of a mind-genjutsu when he saw one. Clearly someone had put one on Sakura. From what he could tell it was a simple, though fairly complex one, which tricked the target's brain into believing the information was harmful and thus buried it itself. None of the genin should have had the skill to do that though.

"Can I see the wound?" He asked her, and when she flinched away slightly he knew for certain he was right.

"Y—yeah," She replied, shaking her head to clear off whatever strange thoughts were in her head.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked concernedly. Her confusion was worrying.

"Nothing, it just doesn't feel like I should unwrap it is all— I don't know why. Ah, I'm just being silly . . ."

Way too complex for a genin.

He grabbed her arm lightly and quickly untied the bandage so she wouldn't have to deal with the conflicted feelings.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed, verbally announcing the shock running through everyone's minds.

"Wha— But this looks just like Sasuke-kun's!" Indeed there was a small circle of complex characters about the size of a small tangerine. Instead of the dark scarlet of her teammate's hers was completely black.

Sasuke remained silent though his eyes were wide. What was going on?

"Naruto!" Kakashi demanded suddenly, "Do you have a mark like this on your body?"

"Huh? No, I don't think so," He scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "I woulda noticed by now, doncha think— hey!"

Kakashi snagged Naruto's hand away from his face, and pulled it before his singular eye. The jonin had thought he'd seen ink on the tip of Naruto's finger, but instead, on the tip, was a very small version of the exact same seal. It was fairly innocuous, unlike Sakura's and Sasuke's. Said two leaned in curiously to spot the small mark.

"That's the same Sasuke-kun and I have . . ."

"Wh— What does this mean?" Naruto asked, pulling his hand away.

Kakashi wished he knew.

"I don't care about that," Sasuke snapped, "Can you undo it?"

The jonin rubbed his head thoughtfully, feeling more out of his depth than he had in a long time. Since he'd been around these three though, he found himself feeling this way more and more often. He had no clue exactly how he felt about that particular detail.

"Right now? No." Kakashi admitted.

"What!?" Sasuke hissed viciously through his teeth, "We can't stay like this!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't even attempt to undo it until I know more about it, and what consequences releasing it might have."

Sasuke was practically vibrating with pent up anger. Glancing up, Kakashi noted that his two other genin were also visibly angry, though they looked marginally more uncomfortable with the fierce and violent emotion. Sakura in particular looked as though she might be sick. Kakashi wagered she'd never felt such strong emotion in her entire life.

"Orochimaru is behind this, and no matter what he has done, be assured it is with malicious intent." He made sure to make eye contact with each of them to strike how serious the matter was. Naruto and Sakura both shivered under his intense gaze, but Sasuke remained firm. Kakashi didn't want to give his students nightmares, but if he couldn't impress upon the Uchiha-heir exactly how important it was "One thing he best known for, is his love of experiments. They have unearthed his labs before, and what they found was not pretty. Tampering with his work is extremely dangerous."

Now Sakura looked as though she might cry and Naruto looked queasy. Sasuke's eyes eventually faltered and fell to the ground unhappily.

Kakashi sighed.

"Even after that, I'm not skilled enough to even attempt to try and remove such a complex seal," Kakashi said, "I'd have to get a seal-master to take a look."

"Seal master?" Naruto asked with a wrinkled brow.

"What's a seal master sensei?" Sakura inquired.

"Well, they're a seal-specialists."

All three were looking unsatisfied by the answer, but he wasn't particularly inclined to give a further explanation. Not now, there was too much to do. At the very least he knew he needed to report the matter to the Hokage immediately. Further action would just have to wait.

"Other than the communal emotions, have there been any other side-effects?" The jonin asked.

Sakura shook her head to reply.

"Well, then I'm afraid you'll all just have to stay with it for a little while." Kakashi spoke with a nonchalance he didn't really feel at the moment.

"What!?"

"What else can we do?" Kakashi raised a brow, "The best you can try is to work on better controlling your emotions."

From the glares he received, Kakashi inferred that none of his students were very happy with that.

"You have a few hours until the end of the round; why don't you use that time to rest?" Kakashi suggested. "There should be a room at the top of the stairs."

Sakura nodded, still looking miserable.

Kakashi sighed silently before throwing on an eye-smile. "I'll see you after the second exam officially ends. Congratulations on passing! Ja ne." And with a poof of smoke, Konoha genin were left in the large and hollow room.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged weary glances, ambivalent feelings hung thickly in the air between them. Silently they moved up the stairs. At the top they discovered a medium sized room with a few futons folded up in the corner. The walls were a bland blue and the floors were old style tatami. If Sasuke had to guess, he would say that every team's designated space had one of these equipped. Having a communal area would only tempt and encourage cheating and underhanded tactics to reduce the competition. Sasuke moved close to the walls as Sakura and Naruto looked around the room. Tapping lightly, he found his theory confirmed. There wasn't a sound. Clearly the rooms had been protected by some kind of seal or ninjustu.

"Hey, there's some food here!" Naruto announced ecstatically, waving around the generic rations. "Stop staring at the wall and eat something."

"You're so annoying," Sasuke tsked, too tired to get properly irritated. The three gathered around the small table in the center and passed about the tasteless rations. Though the rations were as tasteless as they expected, at the bottom of the bowl, they found several pieces of fruit. They quickly divvied them amongst themselves.

Silence reigned long after the three finished eating. None of them knew what to say to each other. They had been forced to be share things with each other that none of them really wanted to. It was an emotionally draining day, and the fact that their new situation would not be a quick fix laid heavy on their minds. Not only had that, but the third exam still lay ahead of them.

Despite the fact, they were closer than ever to each other, none knew what to say.

Sasuke stewed darkly in his mind. It seemed as though this wasn't going to go away anytime soon and he would have to put up with his weak teammates emotions dragging him down. Until he honed a way of overcoming his teammates, he would have to find a way to deal with them.

Sasuke cleared his throat, making both Sakura and Naruto turn towards him.

"I think we need to create some kind of reaction plan."

"What do ya mean?" Naruto asked.

"I mean how we tell someone to cut it out if the emotion is too much." Sasuke was thinking back to the forest when Sakura's fear and panic had nearly exposed them. It was easy not to notice what emotions any of them felt personally, so finding a method of alerting said person if it was too intense was a very good idea.

"Oh! So that the other teams won't know what we're talking about," Sakura realized.

"Exactly." The Uchiha nodded.

"Like a password then?" Sakura suggested.

"It has to be something generic enough that we can apply it no matter what the situation is, but it has to be specific enough that Naruto will remember it."

"Hey!" Naruto's temper flared in indignation.

A tick developed in Sasuke's brow, but he was pleased to note that his annoyance was stronger than Naruto's anger, as the heated emotion faded away.

"Naruto, did you sharpen your kunai?" Sasuke asked sharply instead.

"Eh? I did the day before the first exam." Naruto said, his tone laced with confusion.

"That one is clearly too generic." Sasuke sighed.

Naruto crossed his arms. "Humph!"

"How about, 'Are you hungry?' " Sakura put forth.

"I don't think we could say that casually in a mission." Sasuke shook his head.

" 'Your headband looks a little loose.' " She tried again

"What if we aren't wearing a headband Sakura?"

"Oh, you're right Sasuke-kun." She said with a sigh before a slightly mean grin came over her face, "How about, 'Naruto, will you go on a date with me?' There's no way I'd actually say that in real life."

A flash of hurt shot through the bond, but before Sasuke or Sakura had time to say anything, it was covered up by a pervasive sadness and Naruto's sheepish laugh.

"You're so mean Sakura-chan!" He said lightly.

Sakura was too taken aback to form her usual angry reply.

"Eh? Are you guys okay?" The orange clad ninja asked.

Sasuke paused.

"That might work," He spoke aloud.

"What!? Why would 'Naruto, will you go on a date with me,' be something we would ever say in a mission?" Naruto asked bewildered and affronted, "And you'd have to say it too, teme! Bleh!"

"Not that," Sasuke said irritably, " 'Are you okay?' "

"That might work." Sakura spoke slowly. "It might even help us calm down a little."

Naruto thought about it as well, a bit pleased it was his phrase that they had decided on.

"Right. We'll use this for the moment until we can think of something better," Sasuke decided, "hopefully, it will wear off before that though."

The three of them exchanged ambivalent looks. None were overly hopeful.

"I dunno about you guys, but I'm going to sleep," Naruto said, treading over towards the folded futons and laying one out on the floor. As he got his bed ready, his thoughts centered around his father. Maybe he would know something about what was going on?

His head had barely hit the pillow when the taxing and tumultuous occurrences of the past day and a half finally sunk in and he drifted off into some well-earned rest.

* * *

This time when Naruto found himself standing in the sherbet room, his eyes were immediately searching out his father. Said man was lying down and staring at the non-ceiling. He seemed instinctively to know that Naruto was there, because the moment Naruto's eyes landed on his figure, his father jumped up with a somewhat anxious energy.

Whatever he had to say had to wait. Naruto's problem was more important.

"Naruto!" His father exclaimed, quickly coming over.

"Something weird's happening!" Naruto exclaimed.

His father's shoulders fell. "So something did happen . . ." He figured something probably occurred, but he hadn't been able to catch glimpses of the outside world like he normally could. Perhaps it had to do with the redirection of chakra . . . He needed to contemplate the matter later, when things weren't quite as pressing.

"Yeah! We're all sharing emotions and we can't stop it and Sakura totally gets all blushy around Sasuke and I don't— Wait, do you know what's going on?" Naruto demanded as the full meaning of his father's last sentence stuck in.

The Fourth wearily rubbed his forehead. "I suspected something might happen, though I really had hoped it wouldn't."

"What happened? Was it that bastard snake freak?" Naruto asked seriously.

A small grin cracked over Minato's face. He knew he should be upset at the swearing, (that was what parents did right?) but hearing Naruto bluntly title one of the strongest ninja in the word a 'bastard snake freak,' made him feel a bit better.

"No, it wasn't Orochimaru, at least, not directly."

"What do you mean? Whose fault is it then?"

"Er, well . . . " Minato scratched his head sheepishly, "It's mine."

"You!?" Naruto exclaimed. "Why would you want me to feel their emotions!?"

"I didn't! Really! It was a complete fluke. I tried to cover Sasuke's seal, and I hadn't ever attempted a seal like that before so I adlibbed a litt—"

"What!?" Naruto shouted once more.

"Naruto," Minato said, placing a calming hand on his son's shoulder. "If you wait for me to finish, I'll probably answer the questions you have."

The jinchuuriki looked a little sullen and embarrassed, but nodded to show he understood.

"Alright then," Minato began, "After you and your team fought Orochimaru and he altered your chakra flow, I gained enough strength to take possession of your body for a little time."

His son's eyes widened dramatically, and he opened his mouth before Minato held a finger up, reminding him to wait.

"It wasn't on purpose, honestly. However it was fortunate I was in control because Orochimaru had done something truly terrible to your teammate." Minato spoke seriously, "You know he was bitten, yes? Well, the bite wasn't normal, it was a bite infused with dark chakra. I don't know for certain what the mark did, but I've thought about it, and I'm pretty sure Orochimaru was trying to get Sasuke to become one of his followers. The chakra was potent and would connect Sasuke to Orochimaru."

"Like brainwash him?!" Naruto blurted, his face white. Minato said nothing about the interruption, he only nodded.

"Not exactly, but that's close enough. The user would likely to crave power beyond the norm, more specifically, the dark twisted power Orochimaru possesses. Thus, they would be driven to seek out Orochimaru." Minato shook his head.

"He took on a student in the past, and the mark left deep scars on them . . . Neither Jiraiya nor I were able to undo it." Minato trailed off and shook his head. "Let's just say that Orochimaru's interest in your teammate is considerably bad."

Naruto didn't know who Jiraiya was, but didn't care enough at the moment. "But why Sasuke?" He asked instead.

"If I had to guess, I would say it has to do with the sharingan." Minato said as he rubbed his chin, "The blood trait your teammate possesses is a strong one indeed. I imagine Orochimaru wishes to have that in his service."

Naruto looked faint.

"This is all speculation on my part though," Minato said in a much lighter tone. "It may be some time until we can know for sure what drove Orochimaru."

"You stopped it though, right?" Naruto asked, desperation in his eyes.

Minato was able to smile, "I believe so."

His son let out a large sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

"Yes, but at a cost," The older blond said, "Though I understand the general idea of the chakra flow and purpose, I've never seen anything like that before. I needed to act quickly, so I used a blood seal usually meant for controlling and filtering unstable chakra. It was the best I could do on short notice." There was an apologetic note in his voice, but the look on Naruto's face was understanding. "I needed blood and chakra of two different types to counteract the dark chakra, so I used your friend Sakura's and yours."

"Wait, then why doesn't she remember what happened? Was she sleeping?"

"Uhm, not exactly," Minato said sheepishly.

"Oh! You did something to her head, huh?" Naruto realized

"Just a mild genjutsu, no permanent damage done," Minato assured, "Though the connection between the seal and you and your friends' emotions still escapes me. . ."

"So you don't know how to undo it?"

Minato looked guilty, "I'm afraid not." Anxiety built in his stomach. "I understand if you're upset with me, I didn't realize there would be such drastic consequences—"

"But Sasuke will be okay, because of this?"

Minato hesitated a moment before nodding. "He should be as long as no one messes with the seal."

"Then I guess we'll just have to learn to live with it." Naruto said decisively. His father's expression turned gentle. He would never know how he came to have such a kind and forgiving child. Lord knew he didn't deserve it. He noticed a troubled look grow over Naruto's face.

"What is it?"

"But what if someone tries to remove the seal and that snake-guy's chakra gets out?" Naruto asked.

Minato shook his head, "I doubt anyone would mess with a seal they don't recognize. It's too dangerous. No one knows about this except—" Except Kushina and he. It was a secret of the Uzumaki clan. "—except a select few, who are no longer around."

Naruto looked a little better about it.

"Do you know how we can deal with all this emotional stuff?" Naruto asked.

Minato gave him a sympathetic smile. "The best thing would be to keep the emotions positive. Negative emotions only lead to more negative emotions."

Naruto nodded though he still looked a bit dismayed that Minato didn't have an answer.

"So, how did the rest of the Chunin Exam go?" Minato asked, shaking Naruto out of his funk.

"I almost forgot to tell you!" Naruto exclaimed. "We totally got the jump on this team from Iwa!" Naruto quickly went into a descriptive story about their confrontation with the foreign nin with all the overdramatic exaggeration Minato expected from a boy his age. When Minato admitted that since the new seal had been placed, he hadn't been able to catch wisps of his son's life like he could before, Naruto took it as an invitation to tell him every single detail. He talked about his various classmates and their abilities and what he thought about all of them. Minato smiled as his son spoke, enjoying his energetic explanations. Upon realizing that Minato knew very little about the first stage of the exam, Naruto delightedly informed him about Ibiki's psychological test. He proudly told his father about how he had stood up to Ibiki. Minato smiled and ruffled his hair, making Naruto's grin widen even further.

Having someone listen attentively and actually care about what he was talking about made his whole body feel warm and fluttery. When he finished his story about how Kabuto had given them the scroll, he stopped as a thought hit him.

"Do you know what the third exam will be?" Naruto asked, feeling apprehensive about the coming events.

Minato paused. Would he be giving Naruto a hand up by telling him about the third round? He didn't think so. It was the same every year. If Naruto bothered to look it up, he probably would find it. "Well, Naruto, if I remember correctly, the third round is usually single person combat between the remaining candidates."

"And I have to beat them all?" Naruto gulped, his abundant overconfidence slipping.

"No, not exactly. The fights are evaluated based on the ninja's skill. If a shinobi shows superior skill and innovative thinking but still loses, there is a good chance that the shinobi will be awarded the title of chunin anyways." The relieved look on his son's face made Minato smile.

"Though winning doesn't hurt your chances." The Yondaime winked.

"Did you win yours, Dad?" Naruto asked, obviously expecting Minato to tell him the story of his conquest over the Chunin Exams.

Minato shook his head instead. "The Chunin Exams weren't held when I was your age."

"Huh?" The other blond uttered in confusion.

"Konoha village was embroiled in the second great ninja war at the time, and things like the Chunin Exams were suspended."

"So how did you make chunin then?" Naruto asked.

"Promotions were given on the battlefield," Minato said, his mind drifting back to the dangerous time. Every step towards the enemy lines were laden with hidden explosives and traps, arrows and lightening jutsu rained from above, and genjutsu captured unlucky souls into a permanent sleep. He sighed.

"Thankfully, things aren't like that anymore." A small, tired smile covered his face.

Naruto was looking at his father with amazement, which slightly softened the blow of the violent past.

"W-will you tell me about it?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"Maybe when you're older." He smiled at his son's disgruntled expression. Naruto didn't need to about such things this early on. Things like that would simply be a distraction which he couldn't afford, being knee deep in the chunin exams. He needed to be in top form. Speaking of . . .

"Ne, Naruto, do you feel well-rested when you wake up?" Minato asked.

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean after you come here, do you still feel tired after you wake up?"

Naruto blinked. "I never thought about it before." He folded his arms in deep thought.

Minato waited patiently.

"I don't think so," Naruto said eventually. "I feel like I slept fine. I haven't really slept tons recently."

Minato exhaled, "Hm." He was uncertain if the increased brain activity while Naruto was asleep would reduce the rest his body received. For now it appeared things were fine, though it was something to keep an eye on."

"So, Dad," Naruto began, an excited imploring look in his eyes, "What are you going to teach me today?"

"Maa, maa Naruto," Minato said, putting up his hands, "I don't know if now is the time."

Naruto's expression fell, and became slightly mutinous. Minato stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, making his son look up.

"I'm not going back on my word Naruto," the Yondaime assured, "I just don't want to teach you something new right before the competition. Your mind should be clear when you enter a battle. If you're busy trying to remember something you haven't perfected yet— well, it's a distraction you don't need and would hurt you more than help."

Naruto nodded slowly, accepting the answer.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Naruto," Minato said smiling, "You have the most uncanny way of surprising people."

His son brightened up at that.

"I suppose I could give you a few tips for going up against an enemy though," Minato amended, figuring a few basic guidelines wouldn't hurt. "As you've been going against many foreign nin lately, there are several important things to keep in mind when you're being confronted by an enemy shinobi."

Naruto lowered himself to the floor and watched his father attentively.

The Fourth raised a finger, "The first is that they will use jutsu you probably have never seen before."

Naruto nodded, remembering the sound, grass, and rock nin he'd seen attack in the exam, and Haku and Zabuza.

"How do you know what to do?" The genin asked.

"Well, that bring me to my second point, and one of the central pillars of the shinobi way." Minato held up a second finger. "You need to keep in mind that intelligence gathering is vital."

Naruto's expression twisted. He had heard many lectures on the subject back at the academy, but none of that seemed very important at the time.

"Figuring out what jutsu your opponent uses can give you a huge leg up in the battle, especially if they don't know yours," Minato said. He'd lost that edge a long time ago around halfway through the second ninja war. He mourned the loss of advantage. "Anyways, the best way to do so is to either watch your enemy before you attack, or to look them up in the bingo book."

"Eh?" the blond teenager made another face.

"Obviously these aren't always a viable choice, especially not in this competition." Minato said.

"So what do I do?" Naruto asked.

"Well, gathering information during the battle is harder, but often the most informative." Minato continued, "One way of doing so is to keep on the defensive and let your opponent reveal his attacks."

Naruto frowned, making Minato laugh.

"I know that isn't really your style though," Minato smiled, "Which is why I'm going to reveal to you a secret about the kage bushin jutsu."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"If you send your clone to fight an enemy while you are hidden away and the clone pops, all the memories of the clone will be yours."

Naruto grinned widely, "We figured that out today!" he exclaimed.

"Huh!" Minato scratched his head. That surprised him. As far as he knew, Naruto never figured it out until this point. He wondered if Sasuke and Sakura played a part in the discovery.

"I didn't really think about using it that way though," Naruto admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"Intelligence gathering is one of the more underrated skills in the shinobi world. Many young ninja, and even some older ones, believe its only use is for invading an enemy village and gathering the secrets, but its applicability is much wider. You can find out all about your enemy without even having to put yourself in danger. Though it's true that very few ninja have mastered the kage bushin the way you have," Minato admitted.

"That's awesome." Naruto uttered. His expression grew excited, and Minato knew that Naruto was just itching to try it.

"That's just something to keep in mind," Minato said with a small shrug.

"Thanks Dad!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Minato smiled widely. He didn't think the amazement and happiness of hearing Naruto call him 'Dad' would ever fade.

"I'm totally going to beat the crap out of everyone!" Naruto effused.

Minato opened his mouth the reply, but the invisible floor began to shake and tremble.

This time though, small smiles slowly grew over their faces into excited grins.

"Good Luck Naruto," Minato said giving his son a shoulder hug. "I know you'll do great!"

"Thanks!" Naruto shouted.

* * *

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**Prelims ahead! **

**Reminder, I update on Sunday**

**RE**_view?_


	4. The Prelims

**Sorry for the delay. Life and stuff. Plus this doc had multiple versions floating around which was a bitch to sort through. Mega long chapter though, so I hope that makes up for this.**

**I'M NOT REWRITING THE PRELIMS EXACTLY. I'm too lazy for that. These are my own prelims that have changed by virtue of the butterfly effect. One change changes a whole lot more.**

**Anyways, unbetad. Also I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

_Chapter 4: The Prelims_

* * *

The next thing Naruto knew, he was being shaken awake by Sakura.

"Wake up Naruto," the kunoichi spoke impatiently. Naruto quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes blearily as he stared at the bland room.

"Come on dobe," Sasuke said curtly, leaning on the doorframe, "the next part of the exam is about to start."

"Right, just give me a second," he said and the other two stepped into the hallway.

Naruto scrambled out of bed. None of them had anything to change into so they had all slept in their clothes, despite how much their clothes already smelled. Because of that, Naruto only had to find his jacket and sandals. A few moments later, he was out the door. Sasuke and Sakura were standing there waiting for him. With silent nods, they departed down the stairs to the circular room they first entered through.

"Geez, don't they have anything to eat?" Naruto grumbled, "I'm starving."

"There were a few pieces of fruit we got but you were sleeping." Sakura tightened her hitai-ate.

"Sakura-chan! That's so mean!"

"Just eat a ration bar," Sakura said dismissively, "If you hadn't slept in so much, you could have had some fruit."

"But Sakura-chan . . ."

"Shut up, both of you!" Sasuke hissed, "This isn't the time."

The kunoichi's expression immediately dropped in embarrassment, feeling her crush's displeasure. Naruto on the other hand, screwed his face up irritably, but pulled out his last ration bar and quickly shoved it into his mouth. The mutinous air between the two boys was thick and tense. It was only when they reached the bottom of the stairs that they noticed a door they had previously overlooked. A brown-haired leaf nin stood by it and the trio walked over.

"The rest of the teams are on the other side of the door," he informed them shortly, "the minute you enter the doors, the exam resumes."

Naruto and Sakura swallowed. Sasuke was the one to push the door open. All of them tensed expecting the worst, but instead of a sudden attack, all they saw were the other competitors getting into rows. The trio quickly followed the example, coming in near the middle. The Hokage himself was watching the proceedings from the front of the room. Two ninja flanked him, and behind them two ANBUS hovered on the side. One of the ninja beside him was Anko, and the other was a brown-haired ninja wearing a bandana.

Sasuke was surprised by the amount of competitors still left in the exam. Though Anko had threatened to get rid of more than half of them, there was still a pretty large sum left. He noticed that all of the rookie nine and Gai's team had made it into the third round. Sasuke estimated that there were about twenty-six or twenty-seven people left. Some looked like they were in considerably better shape than others. When he looked at the clock, he realized that the second exam had just ended about twenty minutes ago. That meant that though he, Naruto, and Sakura had gotten there with about seven hours left, other teams were just getting there now. A smirk spread over the Uchiha's lips as he realized that they had a considerable edge. Something he was looking forward to exploiting in whatever the exam brought next. With that in mind, he carefully took note of who the remaining examinees.

After the entire group had assembled, the Hokage cleared his throat.

"Congratulations on passing the second stage of the exam." His eyes scanned the congregation that had gathered before him. "However, your real test begins here. No longer are you within your teams. Now, this is an individual test. You will be forced to fight one-on-one, against foreign nin, and genin from your own village and team."

Reactions of outrage and surprise echoed quietly through the group. Naruto was glad he had known beforehand. He'd had a little time to come to grips with fighting a nin from his same village. Though the idea of fighting his teammates was something he was having a hard time reconciling. What if he got Sakura-cha? He didn't think he could hurt her . . . Speaking of, beside him he felt the pink-haired girl vibrating with fear. Sasuke smothered it with a wave of irritation much to Naruto's relief. Truthfully, her nervousness was really messing with Naruto's mind and confidence.

"From our own team?" a male Suna nin asked, sounding apprehensive.

"Precisely. Your enemy is on all sides."

"That doesn't seem very realistic," someone from the front row muttered.

Old age had not affected Sarutobi's hearing in the slightest and he raised an eyes bow before replying, "Does anyone know why we hold the Chunin Exams instead of doing on field promotions in combat situations?"

"War."

Naruto turned around to see who had unobtrusively spoken the word. To his surprise it was the weird quiet kid with the sunglasses who always sat in the back of the class at the academy.

The Hokage nodded. "Exactly. We are in times of peace as of now. Konoha has treaties with each of your villages. This is an opportunity for the villages to show strength and valor, in a mock war scenario in order to prevent the need for further conflicts." He paused. "But there is another reason," the Sandaime said seriously, "The Chunin Exams are one of the rare opportunities you as ninja have to go against your teammates and fellow village members in a truly substantial way. The exam tests your fortitude and forces you to make difficult choices. Later on in your careers, you may have to make decisions between your and your teammates' futures and chose one or the other. This is a close substitute."

"That's not to say that it is certain you will go against a teammate," Sarutobi said, a tad lighter. "The drawing for pairings is completely random. The proctor for the exam is Gekko Hayate. I leave the rest of the instructions to him."

A sickly-looking ninja from his side stepped forward. "At this time, would those who wish to quit please raise their hand? After that we will commence the next round," The brown haired ninja—Gekko— said, coughing slightly, "Your teammates will not be disqualified by your choice. From here on out, it's a single person competition."

Glances were exchanged throughout the room between teammates. Everyone looking for the first person to crack. Of the group gathered, Kabuto was the one to finally raise his hand.

"I'd like to leave, I don't think I can go on," he said in a weak but earnest tone.

Naruto felt mild upset. Kabuto had helped them a lot the last exam, and it was only because of him they even passed it. When they fought their way to the tower, he had seemed strong enough. Besides that, it shouldn't have taken seven hours to reunite with his teammates so he should have been able to rest. Naruto didn't like to see a person like Kabuto give up on their goals. "Why?" He asked Kabuto as he passed by team seven on his way out.

"Sorry Naruto," he replied with a smile, "my head's just not in it."

Naruto sighed and crossed his arms unhappily.

"Stay focused, dobe," Sasuke said indifferently.

The blond shinobi shot him a glare but turned back to the front. After Kabuto, a handful of people raised their hands and also left. After a few more moments of waiting in which no one else raised their hands, the ninja from before spoke again. "If there is no one else, then we will continue. As there are too many remaining competitors, there will be a preliminary before the final third round, which will take place at a later date."

Exclamations of shock sounded through the large room. Sakura flared with a mix of anger and distress that quickly spread through the bond.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked, barely remembering the code they set yesterday amidst her swirling anxiety.

"Y-yes," she said, willing herself to calm down, "I'm fine."

Sasuke choked out a relieved breath. Her constantly shifting emotions were beginning to really irritate him. His eyes narrowed though as he considered the last trick. If enough people had left because they felt too weak, then the remaining group would have had a waiting period before they even fought again. Those that doubted themselves that much had weak drive, and clearly did not deserve to be Chunin. Sakura, he couldn't help feel, was their ilk. At least it was no longer a team competition, so she wouldn't be dragging him down anymore.

"The first round will be announced shortly. Will the competitors now go to the second level?" The proctoring ninja requested.

Naruto was at the forefront of the trio as they headed up the right staircase all turning over the sudden event in their minds. Sasuke in particular was scoping out the competition as the majority of the foreign nin climbed the stairs opposite of them. Though he knew Naruto was ambivalent on the matter, and Sakura was just plain anxious, he was excited. That feeling grew stronger and stronger until it cleaned out the rest of the bond. At least he was beginning to get the hang of it.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed happily when she saw the gray-haired jonin leaning against the iron bars of the porch, '_Icha Icha Paradise_' firmly in hand.

"Yo," the grey-haired nin greeted. His greeting was completely overrun because a jonin burst forward, nearly trampling team seven as he did. They dodged out of the way as he ran to Tenten, Neji, and Lee who were walking up behind them.

"Youthful students! Your burning flames beat the dark Forest of Death and now you stand on the precipice of victory!" He proclaimed. The Hyuuga was looking away with an expression of distaste on his face, and the female of the group was smiling awkwardly. Rock Lee on the other hand was returning his sensei's gestures with equal vigor.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked eventually as he watched the ongoing spectacle, "Who is that?"

"That," He said, flipping a page of his book, "Is Mighto Gai, a jonin taijutsu specialist."

"We met him before Naruto." Sakura reminded him.

"Oh yeah! He was the turtle-sensei!"

Kakashi didn't bother asking what Naruto meant. He didn't want to know.

"Is he always like this?" Sasuke asked with a look of disgust. They'd already seen their odd display after his brief battle with Rock Lee, but Sasuke hadn't actually believed anyone could behave so ridiculously all the time. It just made it harder to stomach that someone so ludicrous could be so powerful. At least he wasn't on their team though. Compared to Gai and Lee, Sakura and Naruto were tame.

"Yes." Kakashi answered with one word. He briefly turned away from his book to rummage through his various pockets. "Here," he said, tossing light lavender elbow covers to Sakura and black gloves to Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"What are these for, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"To hide you latest tattoos," he said with a light eye smile.

The two of them glanced at each other.

"Do we have to?" Naruto asked, his voice whiny. Kakashi stared at the orange wearing teen until he was suitably uncomfortable. The blond quickly pulled the gloves on, thankful to see that they were combat gloves with Velcro straps. Sakura hesitantly followed his lead, and slid the elbow pads up her arm until they covered her seal. They felt weird, and Naruto in particular was trying to get used to the slight restriction of his mobility. He wondered if they had any in orange.

"Oh, and don't think you're getting out of this, Sasuke," Kakashi said mildly, "When this exam is over, we'll have to do something about your wardrobe of high neck shirts." Anger flared over the bond, which both Naruto and Sakura echoed as they realized this would be a permanent matter until further notice. Seeing the mutinous expressions, Kakashi again leveled them with a serious gaze until one by one they folded. Sasuke took a whole three minutes of not blinking, but eventually turned to the side with a "Tch."

"Let's move a little away." Kakashi glanced to the side, seeing his overenthusiastic rival. Team seven moved further down the walkway away from the lurid team Gai and closer to where team ten was standing. Asuma nodded in greeting to his fellow jonin and Shikamaru and Choji slowly meandered their direction. In complete contrast, Ino practically skipped over.

"Ino-pig," Sakura said with a scoff, "Didn't expect to see you here."

"I knew you'd be here," Ino replied, just as cattily, "Only because Sasuke-kun's on your team to carry your big useless forehead out of the forest." She laughed.

Hurt sparked around Sakura at just how close Ino was to how Sakura genuinely felt.

"I knew you'd do well Sasuke-kun," Ino oozed.

Sasuke felt immediate disgust at the proceeding. Caught between the two feelings of hurt and repulsion as they battled for the top spot made Naruto's head spin.

"Hey Naruto," Shikamaru said casually as he and Choji approached.

"Hey Shikamaru!" He greeted, a little dazedly. "I'm glad you made it out of the forest."

"I'm not," he said bluntly, "I mean, as if this whole exam wasn't troublesome enough, they had to go and add another round. It's not worth it."

"Don't talk like that Shikamaru!" Ino demanded, breaking from her verbal sparring with Sakura.

Naruto sighed, glad for the reprieve of emotion as Sakura and Sasuke gathered themselves once more. It was hard to interject when they were both flooding him with unwelcome feelings. He needed to work on using their code more often so he wouldn't be as unprepared, (or as nauseous.)

"I guess we're all here again," Kiba said with a toothy smirk as team eight walked over, passing team Gai with a healthy berth.

"It seems so," Shino said mutedly.

"I-it's good to s-s-see you Naruto," Hinata stuttered.

"Huh? Oh, you too," He said offhandedly.

Her face burst into red.

"Pay attention," the leader of team ten commented, "They're beginning the match-ups."

In the very front of the room, above two large stone hands in a handsign, there was a giant monitor. Characters filled the screen, and after a few moments it showed the first match.

**Abumi Zaku vs. Rock Lee**

YOSH!" Lee's fist shot into the air with excitement as he realized he was the first competitor. His opponent being a sound ninja didn't faze him in the slightest. "I am first! My youth will guide me into a most righteous victory!"

The other genin winced at the loudness. Sasuke wondered when the team had scooted closer to them. Unfortunately, they had run out of space to retreat, being too close to the wall opposite the stairs. Inwardly he groaned; the way things were going, this was going to be a very long preliminaries.

"That's right Lee," Gai said with his trademark smile, "Set an example for the rest. Show them what the power of youth can do!"

"Yes sir!"

"Now go get them tiger!"

"Yes sir!"

Kakashi sweatdropped as he watched from down the rail, "You know Gai, we can all hear you even if you speak at a normal level."

"What do you mean?!" Gai demanded, "I am not yelling! This is my normal level! Is it too youthful for you?!"

"Right," Kakashi said with a sigh before turning back to his book.

"How terribly cool of you Kakashi," Gai grinned, "Not that I expected anything less from my eternal rival!"

"Did you say something?" the gray-haired jounin asked as he turned the page.

"Eternal Rival?" Naruto asked with a curious expression. This was the second time Gai mentioned it, and Naruto didn't understand in the slightest.

A wide smile spread over Gai's face, but before he could reply, a coughing sound broke through their conversation. Gekko Hayate coughed for a few more seconds before he raised his hand. He stood in between the sound nin and the eager looking Rock Lee.

"The first match has been decided. The match will continue until one opponent forfeits, is knocked out or is unable to continue fighting. Killing is not allowed. Outside interference will lead to disqualification," The proctor said.

"Come on Lee, show this guy who's boss!" Tenten shouted from the stands.

"Fight with all the power of youth!" Gai exclaimed. Lee sent his sensei a thumbs up and a sparkling smile. Several of the other genin averted their eyes at the blinding white light from his teeth. Everything about Gai and Rock Lee was entirely too much, Sakura couldn't help but think. Across from Lee, one of the sound Shinobi from earlier that day stared him down forward cockily. Sakura had thought she recognized his name.

Gekko looked between the two ninja. "The match between Rock Lee of Konoha and Abumi Zaku of the sound, will now commence." He pulled his hand down, showing the start of the round before backing away.

Lee assumed his basic fighting stance with a confident expression on his face. "Come at me, if you dare."

Zaku stood with his two palms extended towards his opponent, eyes closed, obviously ignoring Lee's words.

Konoha nin bent his knees and prepared to attack, "If you will not make a move then I wi—"

A cloud of dust and a loud boom followed Zaku's attack. The sound ninja lay in wait outside of the cloud, eyes darting to wherever the green wearing ninja would emerge.

"Lee!" Tenten cried.

A green blur darted out from the dust and towards the sound nin with startling velocity.

"Fast!" Sakura uttered in surprise. What they'd seen before the exam hardly compared to what they were seeing now. Sasuke grit his teeth, realizing that the green wearing shinobi hadn't gone all out. His feet were nearly a blur as he moved, much to the genin's communal amazement. Though his chakra supply wasn't at its best, Sasuke decided to activate his sharingan. This was a fight he didn't want to miss a second of.

"How come he's so fast?" Sakura asked.

"Lee trains with weights, working every day to improve his youthful ability," Gai answered grinning.

"Cool," Naruto exhaled. He frowned as he squinted, trying to understand what the sound nin was doing. The foreign shinobi would hold out his hands and bursts of _something_ came out. They didn't look like anything. His ears kind of hurt though. He saw Kiba and Akamaru were wincing too.

"What's that guy doing?" Naruto asked his sensei.

"Lee's opponent is a sound shinobi. They're specialty is exactly what you'd think it is; sound attacks."

Naruto nodded, still not fully grasping how that equated to what he was seeing.

"He's compressing the sound with chakra and then channeling it. I would guess that he'd using small holes in his palms," Kakashi observed.

"Eww," Sakura uttered, looking at her own hands.

"Sasuke, mind your chakra," Kakashi reminded the Uchiha who had become caught up in the match, "You don't know who you might go up against. Sasuke's eyes immediately flickered to the red-haired sand ninja and with a small nod, he dismissed the doujutsu.

"Sensei," Tenten began, glancing at Sasuke with a sandaled tone, "That's the blood trait that allows him to copy any technique, isn't it? Are you sure it was okay for him to watch?"

Her sensei smiled and gave her a grin. "Tenten, there isn't a worry in my mind about the Uchiha watching," Gai spoke confidently. "Even if he sees every step and memorizes it, his body couldn't handle the strain of executing it."

Sasuke shot a glare towards Gai's direction, anger pouring off of him. Sakura and Naruto both started slightly at the sudden outpour.

"Sensei! It's the lotus!" Tenten gasped, cutting off Sasuke's anger. Rock Lee lay a combo of kicks towards the other nin's stomach, pounding him up in the air despite the natural pull of gravity. Zaku was helpless to fight it was Lee began expertly binding him with bandages midflight.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Gai, you didn't," Kakashi said wearily.

"I did Kakashi," the other jonin replied without a hint of guilt.

"Huh?" Naruto uttered, looking between the two instructors.

"The lotus is a powerful technique that floods a person's body with chakra to a nearly unhealthy point. It grants to user incredible strength and power, but at the cost of sometimes permanent damage if it is used to a certain extent." Kakashi said with a serious expression on his face as Lee's body began to fall back towards the earth, Zaku firmly in grasp.

"That's . . ." Sakura trailed off, at a loss. When Rock Lee got his opponent early, she knew that she had lucked out not having to fight him, but now she knew how impossibly blessed she had been.

Zaku came down to the floor with a harsh crashing sound. Rock Lee stepped to the side, unwinding himself of from his enemy who flopped to the floor uselessly. Suddenly a hand stirred and grabbed Lee by the leg warmers and pulled him to the floor.

"Aahh!" Lee exclaimed, his head whipping to the destroyed floor where Zaku was slowly trying to stand. With a reflexive kick that sent the sound shinobi flying into the concrete wall, Zaku was completely down for the count. Lee stood in a weak fighting stance, swaying lightly as he stared in the direction of the unconscious body, as though waiting for it to stand up again.

"The winner is Rock Lee from Konohagakure." Gekko announced with a cough.

"How could that guy even stand after what Lee did to him?" Sakura wondered, her voice full of awe.

"How could he even be alive?!" Ino exclaimed.

"Lee could easily have lost this fight," Kakashi said, making all the rookie nine genin stare at him gobsmacked.

"You saw it too then?" Gai asked, looking a little tired.

Kakashi nodded. "Before they hit the ground, the sound shinobi used his hand cannons and shot the ground, softening to blow considerably. If it wasn't stone, he probably would have been able to attack. As it was, stone is too dense for sound to break apart sufficiently, so he was hurt rather badly. If this had taken place outside, he probably would have been able to continue, and Lee would be at a considerable disadvantage." His eyes turned to Rock Lee. Everyone's gaze followed and saw how suddenly exhausted and hurt he looked. The medic shinobi were fluttering around him concernedly.

"After using the lotus, a person's body needs a lot of recovery time." Kakashi sighed.

"I'll speak to him about this later," Gain said seriously, "But for now, my youthful student has triumphed!" He shouted, regaining his passion.

"I did it, Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed as he came back up to the balcony. The smile on his face erased all the weariness that had previously been there.

"Lee!" Gai shouted in delight as he began running towards his student.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted in reply,

"Lee!"

"_Gai-sensei_!"

"_Lee!"_

Kakashi covered Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's eyes with his hands and book.

"It's best not to watch," He said simply.

"Ugh," Sakura shuddered as she heard the crashing of waves and the sunset.

"I think it's kind of sweet." Naruto said, a small warmness filtering through the bond.

"What?" Sakura asked in shock. Sasuke's emotion mirrored hers making Naruto squirm a little

"What? It kind of is! They have the matching hair and spandex, you know, it's kind of sweet!"

"Naruto, if I ever see you in spandex, you're going straight back to the academy," Kakashi said simply as he pulled his hands away and buried his nose in his book.

"What!" Naruto jumped. "You wouldn't really do that, right sensei?"

The actual concern coming from Naruto made Sakura roll her eyes. "Of course he wouldn't. I probably would though."

"Tch, you're so temperamental, dobe."

Naruto snapped his head towards his teammate, "Teme—"

"Shut up, Naruto, they're posting the next match!" Ino snapped. All of their eyes flipped towards the screen.

A mixture of anxiety excitement and eagerness swirled around the trio from team seven. When the shifting characters on the screen finally settled, that adrenaline was replaced by one part relief and two parts impatience.

"The second round will be Nara Shikamaru of Konoha and Tsuchi Kin from the Sound."

"Ugh, this is such a drag," Shikamaru groaned. "I can't follow that last match."

"That are you saying Shikamaru?! Go out there and kick some ass!" Ino shouted.

"So troublesome . . ." Nonetheless, the shadow-jutsu user slowly went down the stairs to the center of the room where the proctor and his opponent were waiting. The other ninja had long, dark hair, held away from her face by her Sound village headband. There was an impatient look on her face as Shikamaru lazily approached.

"Now that both competitors are here, the match can begin," Gekko said, coughing as he moved out of the center. The girl immediately jumped back, scanning her competition.

"Another sound nin," Shikamaru murmured lightly to himself. Whereas his posture was slumped and lazy, his mind was active and alert. Already he was turning over the knowledge he'd seen in the last round. She would probably have some kind of sound jutsu like her teammate, but until she attacked, he wouldn't know the specifics. He doubted it would be as explosive as her teammate's as her shoulder muscles weren't developed enough to handle the strain. So what was her move then?

"Yes, another sound nin," she said with a haughty voice, "but I can tell you I'm much stronger than my pathetic teammate."

Kin began the match by throwing two needles to Shikamaru.

Sakura's brow furrowed, that laughter sounded familiar for some reason. Her brain finally made the connection to the name and voice from earlier.

"She was another one of from the group who were trying to find Sasuke," Sakura said mostly to herself.

"Someone was trying to find you?" Kakashi asked his student.

"Yeah, it was after that Orochimaru guy attacked us. We heard her and her teammates talking about finding Sasuke, and how Orochimaru would be mad at them if they didn't," Naruto replied, his face scrunching unhappily.

Kakashi's hidden eyebrow raised in surprise. The team from the Sound. Coupled with the mysterious mark on Sasuke's shoulder . . . Was it possible that they had collaborated with Orochimaru?

Gai, Asuma and Kurenai all looked towards him subtly at the mention of the name. He gave an almost indiscernible shake of the head. Everything was under control for the moment. He would report the matter, subtly and immediately.

"They didn't find us though, so that was good." Sakura sighed in relief.

"Yes it was. It goes to show what capable ninja you all are becoming," Kakashi said with a light smile.

Sakura blushed, setting off a chain reaction between her teammates.

"Sakura, calm down," Sasuke said shortly, turning his head to the side.

"Oh right!" She said, the flush of pride turning into embarrassment.

"That really isn't better Sakura-chan," Naruto said honestly.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to settle her emotions.

Kakashi watched the exchange with amused interest.

'_Perhaps,'_ The jounin thought, '_This could be good for them. I don't think there could be a better teamwork exercise. The three of them have to work together if they want to make it through this.'_ He glanced at the Uchiha heir from the corner of his lone eye, '_Sasuke especially could benefit from a little understanding.' _He turned his attention back to the match just in time to catch Shikamaru's clever ploy.

"The winner is Shikamaru Nara from Konoha!" Gekko announced. Medics arrived on the scene and quickly collected the knocked out sound ninja. Kakashi watched the proceedings with sharp eyes. "Now for the third match," Gekko said. Behind him, the board cycled through the names again before settling.

"The third match will be Tsuguru Misumi of Konoha, and Subaku no Kankuro of Suna."

Kakashi closed his book and placed it in his pockets. Without a word he turned on his heels and began walking towards the medical room.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi gave casual shrug. "There's something I need to check up on. I'll be back before any of you go up," He assured her.

Naruto and Sakura gave him somewhat hesitant nods before turning back to the center stage.

Kakashi exited quietly. He headed down the medical hallway, letting his hearing guide him to his destination. Sure enough, the echoes of the attending medic-nin led him to the correct location. Inside the room, there was an orderly wrapping up the head of the female sound ninja. She had yet to regain consciousness, and Kakashi watched her for a few moments. Looking around the room, he quickly found the two masked ANBU that had been assigned to guard the room and injured. He approached them casually.

"Kurasu, Neko," Kakashi nodded to them respectively. "I don't suppose you can tell me what the Hokage has planned for the opening ceremony for the third exam, can you?" He straightened his hitai-ate. "I've got a special someone who I want to take out to it, but she's not too crazy about fireworks."

"We don't know anything yet." Neko sighed, his posture loosening. "But don't get your hopes up; I doubt you'll have too much time on your hands, since you'll probably have at least one genin there. I heard the Uchiha is quite strong." His tone lightened. "No, you'll be stuck there like the rest of us, doomed to merely watch the fun."

"I figured." Kakashi spoke unenthusiastically. "A man can dream though."

"Hey, I wouldn't cancel the date yet, the competition's pretty rough this year." Neko commented.

"That's bad energy, hoping your team will lose," Kurasu said with a smile in his voice.

"I'm not hoping . . . just accepting of that potential outcome. Denial isn't good energy either."

Kurasu chortled before he changed the subject. "How has the weather been?" He stretched a little as he spoke. "I've been inside all day and it's making me crazy. After my shift I'm planning to go to the onsen. Working the chunin exam really cracks down on my free time and I need every moment to unwind."

"What free time?" Neko asked wryly.

"Exactly," Kusasu echoed.

"Well it was pretty windy when I was last out and the leaves were falling again." Kakashi sighed. "Maybe I should cross my fingers that my genin pass, if only to avoid the D-rank yard work."

Kurasu groaned at the words. "Think there'll be a storm?"

"'Fraid so. I guess your onsen plan will have to wait until you get another break."

"So maybe next week then" Neko said with an impish tone.

"More likely next month." Kakashi smiled. "The woes of being the ninja elite."

A female medic-nin came over suddenly, halting the conversation. "Is there something you need?" She asked the gray-haired jonin, a suspicious look on her face. Part of her duty was to ensure the infirmary station was clear of any unnecessary ninja from any village. She'd assume he was discussing business with the ANBU, but she heard a tail of their conversation and rolled her eyes; they were tremendously unprofessional, but it wasn't her place to say.

"You know, I completely forgot why I came down the stairs in the first place!" Kakashi said with a sheepish expression. She rolled her eyes, but moved on.

Kakashi retrieved his orange book and walked back out the medical area with his nose buried deep in '_Icha, Icha,_ _Paradise.'_ When arrived back at the observation deck, the round was already over and some of the supplementary proctors were repairing the floor that had been destroyed.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto greeted excitedly as he walked towards his team.

"Hello, what did I miss?" He asked mildly.

"The Suna shinobi totally won!" Sakura informed him with an eager smile.

"You missed it! It was so awesome! The Suna nin had a puppet, but it turned out that the puppet was the Suna nin the whole time, and the Suna nin was the puppet and then WHAM!" Naruto exclaimed, "He just got him!"

" . . . Thank you for the recap Naruto." Kakashi sighed inwardly at his student's hyper behavior. At least now he knew why Sakura was so effusive. A quick look to the side informed Kakashi that Sasuke had his lips firmly closed, clearly deciding just not to say anything at all. Kakashi was mildly disappointed. He had rather hoped to see the Uchiha heir in a bubbly mood. Though he figured it would only be a matter of time.

"The fourth match will soon begin." Gekko coughed loudly as the large screen shuffled names before the pairing was decided.

Royal blue eyes widened in delight. "YES!" Naruto whooped, drawing a fair amount of attention to him. "I am so ready for this!"

"Naruto," Sakura said exasperatedly, though smiling. Naruto's excitement was contagious.

"The fourth match will be between Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha and Akado Yoroi, also of Konoha."

A tall, fairly burly man stepped forward. His dark glasses hid his eyes from view and the rest of his face was covered by a bandana.

"Don't lose, dobe," Sasuke said nonchalantly.

A wide grin spread over Naruto's face, and his confidence swept through Sakura and Sasuke too. "Are you kidding?! Me lose when I'm this close to becoming a Chuunin? No way!"

"Tch, we'll see about that." Sasuke smirked.

"Whatever teme, I'll be back up after I win." Naruto jumped off the balcony and onto the fighting arena.

"Now that both participants are here, the fourth match may commence," Gekko said, coughing as he walked away.

Naruto assumed his brawler position in anticipation of an attack.

The other ninja stared down at his opponent, his entire posture screamed arrogance.

"You won't come at me? Fine, I'll come to you!" Naruto shouted before he made ten clones and went charging in. On the rafters, his fellow team members were shaking their heads at his rash declaration.

Blue chakra coated the other ninja's hand, and before Naruto could react, his opponent was charging through the ranks of shadow clones. Pops rang out in quick succession as Yoroi jabbed the clones that were in his way, quickly dispersing them. In a flash, he stood before the original and grabbed the younger nin by his neck. The blue chakra surrounding his hands pulsed and Naruto gasped.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, feeling his panic.

Suddenly a smug sense of satisfaction began to settle in Sakura, and she had no clue where it was coming from. She turned towards Sasuke, but his brow was slightly furrowed showing that he was also confused. Then there was a popping sound followed by an explosion and the burly man with the glasses was sent flying to the other side of the room.

The audience was stunned as Naruto stood defiantly with his arms folded, in the clearing cloud of smoke with barely a scratch on him.

"What just happened?" Ino asked blankly.

"I think Naruto just won?" Shikamaru said with disbelief.

'_Naruto, you clever dog.'_ Kakashi thought to himself with a smile.

"This match isn't over yet!" Yoroi shouted as he picked himself up from the rubble. His clothes and hair were a little scorched but there didn't appear to be any vital damage.

"Not yet, but soon!" Naruto grinned. "I figured out you were doing more than just popping my clones after the first handful you destroyed, so I decided to allow myself to get captured. Then I used a kawamiri jutsu to substitute myself with one of my clones. Which had an exploding tag. I hope you liked that last touch," Naruto said with a foxy grin. Inside he was intensely relieved he had been able to pull of the kawamiri, a jutsu that had long escaped his grasp. That probably had to do with his constantly shifting chakra levels more than anything else, but still, he couldn't help but feel proud; especially about his new intelligence gathering skills.

"Naruto, you're too much," Kakashi said with a sigh.

"Why did he just explain everything? That means he won't be able to use that trick in the future." Sakura groaned.

"Still, that was pretty impressive," Ino said, "For Naruto, that is."

"I now know the secret of your blue hand jutsu thingy!" The blond declared.

The upper balcony sweatdropped.

"Oh really?" Yoroi chuckled lightly. "And what exactly is the secret."

"You're trying to steal my chakra!" Naruto said with an accusatory tone that was borderline childish.

"Are there really jutsu like that, sensei?" Sakura asked curiously. She'd never heard of such a dangerous jutsu at the academy.

"Yes," He replied, "Though they are usually too high level for genin to use. The chakra control necessary can only be accessed by jonin, or strong chunin most of the time." Kakashi wasn't terribly concerned though. If the other nin had gotten anyone but Naruto, he probably would have stood a fair chance. As it was, Naruto's reserves were far too large for any one human to drain completely. He was interested to see what his excitable student would do next.

Sakura on the other hand, was unable to completely hide the worry that settled over her features after hearing her sensei's words.

"_What a dangerous jutsu . . ."_ The kunoichi thought to herself.

"Just because you figured out my jutsu doesn't mean you'll be able to stop me from draining you dry!" With that, Yoroi began running straight for Naruto. The orange clad ninja sent a flurry of kunai towards his attacker, all of which were dodged or batted away. Twisting his lips into a frown, Naruto peppered his opponent with kunai that had explosive tags tied to them. A cloud of smoke and dust grew in the central area of the room, engulfing Naruto and Yoroi. The _jinchuuriki_ made another handful of clones to explore the fog as the original squinted and tried to see through the haze.

There was a popping sound, and Naruto's eyes darted towards the right. But then he received a flash of memories from a clone on the left. His eyes darted every which way, trying to figure out what was going on. It was no use, the dust and smoke was still too thick. Naruto leapt backwards, and out of the cloud.

Before he even landed, a hand darted forth from the haze and grabbed Naruto by the throat. His neck creak painfully as his breathing strained. He automatically raised his hands in the familiar cross-shaped handsign, when another pair of hands grabbed his and pulled them awkwardly behind his back.

He glanced backwards to find another Yoroi behind him holding his hands a part from each other.

"You're stupid if you think you're the only one who can make solid clones," Yoroi's deep voice said menacingly, "I'm going to enjoy choking you, but I won't put you out of your misery until you pay me back for all those cuts and scratches you gave me." Blue chakra enveloped his hands and Naruto's mouth opened in a silent scream as he felt his life-force being drained from his body.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata echoed, fear building in her eyes.

"Hey, Naruto, don't give up!" Shikamaru urged.

"Do you think he's going to substitute again? Hey, maybe this is just a part of his plan!" Ino said, distressed by her friends' reactions.

"Not this time," Sakura said, shaking her head. "He's really scared this time, I can feel it."

Ino gave her an odd look, but the pink haired kunoichi ignored it. Her mind was focused on the terrible feeling of desperation and pain slowly engulfing her teammate. She hated the connection now more than ever. The desperation and panic made her knees tremble, and she wondered if this is what dying felt life. She turned towards Sasuke desperately, and found her crush gritting his teeth fiercely against the onslaught of emotions.

"That idiot!" Sasuke ground out.

Sakura started crying for real now; she didn't think she could bear being emotionally tied to Naruto and have to _feel_ him die. She couldn't do it!

Suddenly, a cry of pain lit up the air, and it didn't come from Naruto. Yoroi let go of Naruto with a scream before holding his hands up to his face. A faint outline of red energy surrounded their teammate.

"Oh my God . . ." Sakura felt nauseous as she saw the spirals of smoke rising from the opponent's burning palms.

"What did you—" Yoroi turned to Naruto to demand but was met by the blond's fist. With a strong series of punches, the burly leaf nin was out for the count. His earth clone quickly crumbled, leaving Naruto standing and gasping.

"That's what you get for trying to steal my chakra," He said in a raspy voice, breathing heavily. His eyes were dark and he fought to bury the red chakra. The desperation was still strong though, he remembered reaching out for something—_anything _to stop the enemy shinobi from stealing his life-force. One moment his body was running dry, and the next his system was flush with crimson energy. The fluxes, he decided, weren't that great after all. Especially since he couldn't lock it down. It was still leaking from his body. Inhale and exhale, he thought to himself. Slowly, he managed to bring down his pulse, and calm the sudden surge of energy. So engaged was Naruto with his thoughts that when a voice finally called out into the silent arena, the blond shinobi actually jumped.

"The winner of round four is Uzumaki Naruto, of Konoha." Gekko called.

"I can't believe it," Ino uttered, stupefied. "Naruto actually won."

"What just happened?" Shikamaru asked, voicing just about everyone's thoughts.

The group of jonin observing had eventually arrived to a conclusion involving the poisonous fox chakra. They exchanged furtive glances, some more uneasy than others, but all of them hid their reactions. Kakashi in particular was perturbed by seeing a flash of the red chakra manifest. Though he realized that the latest addition to the seal on Naruto's stomach could well be influencing his affiliation with the fox's chakra. He'd have to keep a closer eye on his blond genin. If the Kyuubi's chakra was leaking out faster than Naruto's body could assimilate it, then they needed to start working on a solution immediately. Hopefully though, when the Sandaime removed Orochimaru's seal, Naruto's system would return to normal. Yoroi was a perfect example of how toxic the Kyuubi's chakra really was to humans.

The upper balcony watched a quick conversation take place between Naruto and the attending medic, in which Naruto repeatedly shook his head. Eventually, a frustrated looking medic nin walked away and Naruto began heading back up to rejoin his team.

"Naruto! What are you doing?! You need to get your neck looked at!" Sakura yelled at him.

The blond ninja waved her words away. "It'll heal on its own," Naruto said hoarsely.

Her eyes narrowed, but Ino interrupted before she could reply.

"What was that all about though, how'd you burn that guy's palms off?!" Ino asked bluntly.

Naruto's head tilted downward and Sakura and Sasuke felt a small blanket of fear settle around their teammate. The two exchanged glances.

"I didn't mean to, really," Naruto mumbled. "I was just trying to overload him. It was an accident."

'_The amount of chakra needed for something like that . . .' _Shikamaru shook his head. '_I knew Naruto had a lot of chakra, but that's just ridiculous!'_

"Che." Sasuke scoffed from the side. "I don't know what you're so afraid about. You shouldn't be so scared just because someone tried to steal your chakra. If you really become an actual ninja, you'll be going against much scarier stuff." He wouldn't acknowledge that he had nearly choked when he felt Naruto dying through the bond. This was the ninja world, he reminded himself resolutely. If it was frightening to Naruto, the blond needed to leave before his weakness affected Sasuke's growth.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said softly.

"It isn't that." Naruto shook his head fervently, anger settling in the air. "I know that— I've faced much scarier stuff." The blond said, recalling his fight with Haku, Zabuza, and Gato's henchmen. "It's not that I'm afraid of that guy!"

"What then?" Sasuke asked.

"It's the—" He was afraid the Kyuubi's chakra would manifest. He was afraid everyone— his teammates especially— would see it. He was afraid of losing control and hurting people. Those were his fears. After what happened with Haku, time he couldn't help but be worried. The rage in the memory still felt so close to the surface. . . He shied away from the intensity.

"Cool it, you two," Kakashi said, placing a palm on each boys' shoulder. "Let's save this discussion for another time."

"Whatever," Sasuke muttered, walking back to the banister.

Naruto took a few breaths trying to clamp down on his fear and irritation.

"Whatever the case is, you won Naruto! Congratulations! You're going on to the next round!" Sakura declared, trying to disperse the tenseness in the bond.

Naruto's eyes widened with gratitude. He allowed his female teammate's feelings to seep into him, and tried to drown out his worries. When Sakura was nice, it felt really good.

"Not bad Naruto, not bad," Shikamaru said with a lax smile.

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head, beginning to feel proud.

'_I guess I did do it, huh?'_ Naruto thought to himself, feeling better, even if the fox played a part in it.

Hinata carefully came next to the orange ninja and played with the tips of her fingers, "N-Naruto, congra—"

"The next round's coming up!" Kiba whooped.

"Alright!" Naruto croaked with his scratchy voice. He immediately regretted the action as sharp pain shot up his throat.

"Why are you yelling Naruto?" Sakura demanded, before slapping him over the head, "You're going to lose your voice, idiot!"

"OW!" Naruto exclaimed. "That hurt Sakura-chan." He sullenly rubbed his head. When she was mean it didn't feel very good at all.

"The fifth match will be between Uchiha Sasuke and Tenten, both competitors are from Konohagakure."

"Finally," Sasuke said with a confident smirk. Without a word to either of his teammates, he walked to the stairs and entered the fighting arena. A little further down, a kunoichi wearing a pink shirt with her hair in two buns was fending off Gai-sensei's exclamations of youth.

"So that's Tenten I guess," Naruto mused aloud as he watched, "I hardly know who any of these competitors from Konoha are."

"A couple groups are repeats who have tried several times over the years to pass, and a few have just waited to take the exam. Gai's team in an example," Asuma said, overhearing Naruto's question, "Tenten, Lee and their other teammate Neji, are from the year ahead of you all. They learn under Maito Gai, whom I'm sure you've already noticed."

"Hard to miss . . ." Sakura trailed off quietly.

"They're a heavy hitting team," Asuma continued, "Seeing as Gai's their instructor, it's no wonder that all of them are taijutsu specialists." Gai perked up at the mention of his name.

"Not just specialists," Gai interrupted. A quiet laugh quirked his lips before quickly growing loud. "They are taijutsu geniuses! All of them!" He exclaimed.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee's eyes were watering and Neji who was beside him just sighed irritably.

"So Kakashi, are you worried?" Gai asked with a cocksure smile, "Tenten is a real firecracker. I think you'll find she's more than a match for your student."

"Hm? What are you asking?" Kakashi asked, not bothering to look up from his book.

"Just what I expect from you Kakashi," Gai said, "Staying cool in the face of the struggle."

Kakashi sighed inwardly.

"If everyone's ready, we are going to start the next round," Gekko coughed. Glancing between Tenten and Sasuke before slicing his hand down decisively.

"Hajime!"

The minute the word left the instructors lips, Sasuke had begun forming handsigns.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!

With a quick show of gymnastics, the kunoichi maneuvered herself away from the fiery blast. Tenten then retaliated by, unleashing a barrage of weapons toward the Uchiha. Sasuke jumped away, but when he landed there was another set of kunai and shuriken coming at him. He grit his teeth and pulled out a kunai of his own and began slicing them out of the air as they came at him. A few made it past his guard, nicking his calves.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Anger built at Sakura's cry and anxiety, and he forced the emotion over hers.

Tenten smirked, clearly thinking she had the advantage in their fight. A smile slowly spread over Sasuke's face as he activated the sharingan. He watched her guard tighten further, waiting for his next move, but instead Sasuke stood still, waiting for her. She didn't disappoint, quickly attacking him with a spray of kunai covered in explosive tags. Sasuke's eyes watched them move through the air, catching their every motion. He stopped trying to anticipate her moves and instead let his sight guide him out of the way.

"Go Sasuke-kun!" Sakura and Ino echoed from the stands, but his focus didn't waiver from the weapons mistress, who was looking more irritated by the second.

"Stay still!" she grit out. Sasuke smirked at her lost concentration as he dodged another handful of weapons and then another. Inwardly, he worked on a retaliation plan. Though he could probably wait for her to run out of weapons, it would probably waste too much unnecessary chakra. With that in mind, he waited for her to throw more weapons before moving out of the way and towards her. Using the sharingan, he dodged every weapon and moved closer and closer to his quarry. She panicked, and threw more and more, but it was too late, he knew her pattern. Using his kunai to block her close-quarter attacks, he pivoted behind her and delivered a swift chop to the back of her neck, sufficiently knocking her out.

He stood above her unconscious form, smirk firmly in place as Gekko announced the winner. Sasuke watched as the medic-nin collected Tenten's unconscious body. He declined their offer to patch him up, not wanting to miss out on the next match because of a few scratches. He had outsmarted her at her own game, and that was a satisfying feeling. In addition, he didn't doubt that the weapon techniques he picked up from her would serve him well in the future. As he approached the stands, he belatedly noticed a sense of pride, glee and jealousy. The glee was a little overzealous, but Sasuke especially enjoyed the jealousy.

"Well done Sasuke," Kakashi complimented with a smile.

"Yeah that was amazing Sasuke-kun!" Sakura bubbled.

"Hnn," He replied uninterestedly. His attentions were focused on the remaining genin, specifically to the ones across the balcony. The red-haired Suna nin had yet to go, but from what Sasuke saw from his puppet-wielding teammate, they were a force to be reckoned with. His eyes cut sideways to where the male Hyuga resided. Those expressionless pale eyes were strong. He couldn't wait to see what the Hyuga could do.

"I expected a good opponent from your students Kakashi," Gai said with a serious hand on his chin. "I'm glad to see you didn't disappoint. Her youth lame will only grow after this battle."

"Right . . ." Kakashi returned to his book.

The ground remained intact and there were only a few small blood-stains and melted floor tiles to clean up before the next round, so it wasn't too long before Gekko was clearing his throat.

"The sixth match will begin now." As he spoke, the screen activated, randomizing the pairings.

"The seventh match will begin now." As he spoke, the screen activated, randomizing the pairings.

"The next match will be between Aburame Shino of Konoha, and Yamanaka Ino also of Konoha."

Ino exhaled in relief. "Thank goodness. I thought I was going to get one of the monsters." She vaguly gestured to the sand trio and Neji. Despite being in earshot, the Hyuga male showed no outward reaction. Which Asuma was grateful about. Ino's loose lips could sink ships that would be very important later on when the group of them began working together on a higher level.

"Ino, the Aburame's are a well-known and respected clan of the village. Do you remember what your father taught you about them?" Asuma asked.

"Uhm." She paused before flushing as she failed to recall what exactly the Aburame's were known for. All she remembered was that it was something gross.

Asuma just shook his head before smiling. "You can do it Ino," He urged.

"Yeah!" Choji put forth in between eating his potato chips.

"Aburame's are so troublesome . . ." Shikamaru said.

"Thanks for the support Shikamaru!" She said sarcastically, "I mean honestly, how hard is it to get a little team-spirit from you, huh?"

Shikamaru sighed.

"Whatever, I am so ready for this. Just watch me Sasuke-kun!" She said with a flirty smile.

* * *

"Err," Gekko cleared his throat as he watched the medical nin pick a dazed Ino off of the ground. She was muttering 'bugs' over and over to herself, making the rest of the rookie nine avert their eyes awkwardly.

"The winner of round six is Aburame Shino of Konoha. The next round will begin immediately."

There were no stains after that short and eventless fight so the screen promptly began flipping through names.

"Poor Ino," Sakura said a little softly. Disgust was still swirling under her skin. She could hardly imagine what would have happened to her if she had gone against the bug nin.

Looking around at the remaining competitors, Sakura had to take a deep breath. None of them looked like they were going to be pushovers. She sighed. Then again, no one who had already gone had exactly been weak. Still, she could hope that maybe she could get Kiba. He was still a rookie just like she was, so at least her chances would be better.

"Ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto tugged one of her new elbow sleeves to get her attention. She was going to whip around and maybe hit him for interrupting her train of thought, but realized that her name was on the board. All thoughts fled her mind. It was go time, and her opponent . . .

"The seventh match will be between Akimichi Choji from Konoha and Haruno Sakura, also from Konoha."

Complete and total relief swept through her body. "Thank God." She had forgotten about Ino's other teammate. But sharpened her mind anyways. Looks could be deceiving as Shino just demonstrated. Especially considering that her opponent came from a clan. From what she remembered at the academy, the Akimichi had some sort of expansion jutsu, but she couldn't remember what exactly that meant. She'd never seen it because they trained that jutsu exclusively in their clans for the most part.

"Good luck," Shikamaru said mildly to his teammate. The other boy gave him a thumbs up as he dropped the empty bag of potato chips in his hands. He looked fairly confident in his abilities which made Sakura feel both anger and insecurity. He seemed to think he had it made, getting Sakura as a competitor. She would show him. Her inner persona was getting prodded.

"Hey, Asuma-sensei, will you take me to Barbeque if I win?"

The jonin in question scratched his cheek. "Ehhh, I guess so."

"Alright!"

"I lucked out, huh Shikamaru?" Choji said, clearly unaware that Sakura was listening, "Free Barabeque, here I come!" He exclaimed with fervor as he went down the stairs.

"**We'll show him!"** Her inner voice raged. Next to her, Sasuke and Naruto started in surprise. The emotions coming from their teammate were very different than usual. This was especially startling considering that on the outside she didn't look different. "Let's do this!" She exclaimed confidently before jumping off the balcony.

"Go Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered, catching onto her competitive energy.

She honed her determination ready to show Sasuke-kun what she was made of!

"Uhm, Gekko coughed, "Let the seventh match begin."

She jumped away landing in a perfect defensive position to respond to any kind of attack.

Choji smirked before he pulled his hands together in a strange handsign. "Expansion Jutsu!" His body ballooned right before her eyes, turning into a gigantic ball. The floor below it caved under his weight, leaving depressions in the stone. His head and arms disappeared from sight and the next thing she knew, the ball was heading towards her with dangerous speed. She hadn't been expecting this. With a small cry she jumped out of the way. He turned around in a big u-shape before coming at her again.

She couldn't help but scream as he plowed towards her. He was much harder than she had thought! Sakura dodged out of Choji's destructive path once more, mind spinning frantically to figure out a strategy.

"_I can't keep dodging like this," _She thought frustrated to herself. "_There has to be something else that I can do." _There were no weapons she could use in her academy style weapons pouch, but besides that, his body was too large for her to hit with anything. The jutsu in her collection were miserably few, and all but useless. Dread began to fill her as she realized that there was nothing she could do.

"Sakura-chan! Don't give up!"

Her head twitched to the side, catching the image of her annoying blond teammate. Beside him though, watching the round, was her crush. She couldn't give up, not now. Naruto was oozing encouragement and confidence and Sakura let it fill her and give her new strength. She could do this. Her mind flipped to the past rounds she had seen, looking for an idea. A smile spread over her face. ''_Yeah, that could work.''_

This time when Choji changed directions and began plowing towards her, she held her ground, waiting for him to get close to her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted from the balcony.

She didn't hear him, her mind was focused on the timing of when to make her move.

"He's gonna hit her!"

Not close enough yet.

"Sakura-chan! Move!"

Her gaze sharpened. When he was a few meters from her, she started doing a string of backhandsprings. Her body began gaining momentum as she continued flipping away from Choji. She clenched her teeth, trying to stop the nausea from building up. She couldn't lose focus now! With careful timing, she was able to reach into her pack and grab what she needed while doing one-handed backhandsprings.

"Sakura! The wall!" Naruto exclaimed.

From her upside-down and constantly moving perspective, she could barely make out how close the grey wall was to her position. She grit her teeth. It was now or never. With as much precision as she could manage, she set down what she wanted before nearing the wall with frightening speed.

"She's going to hit it!"

Sakura wondered who that was. She could barely make out any of the other voices as her mind focused so heavily on the task at hand. At the last moment, she sprung herself forward, landing about halfway up the wall. She rest there on the side of the wall using her chakra to hold her in place, panting from the exertion. Her muscles screamed at her after the long trail of gymnastics. Her mind stayed focused though as she examined her oncoming opponent, waiting to see if her plan would work.

"Choji, stop!" Shikamaru shouted.

The Akimichi attempted to slow and stop, but it was too late, because at that very moment, an explosion resounded off the walls, filling the air with smoke. Another explosion followed after and yet another until the dazed boy slammed straight into the wall. For a few moments the arena was filled with smoke. Naruto leaned over the rail rapt with attention while Shikamaru ran his hand through his hair tiredly. The smoke soon cleared, revealing an unconscious Akimichi. Sakura was crouched several yards above him, still using chakra to glue herself to the wall.

The kunoichi exhaled in relief. She had done it. Her plan had worked. After realizing there wasn't a weapon in her pouch, she recalled seeing what Shikamaru had done by using the arena as a tool. Sakura realized she did in fact a weapon that was even larger than Choji! Still, she could barely believe it worked. She allowed herself to drop to the floor and took a moment to regain her balance. Meanwhile, the proctor walked closer to examine the exact state of the Akimichi. With a short nod to the medic nin, he turned to the audience. "The winner of round seven is Sakura Haruno of Konoha." A handful of ninja immediately poured into the room to repair the extensive damage, and Choji was carted out of the room.

"Way to go Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted from the balcony.

She smiled and headed up the stairs to rejoin her team. Her feelings of excitement were brimming. In actuality, she hadn't really thought she stood a chance of moving onto the third round with a collection of opponents that were this strong, but she had done it. She was going to the third round of the Chunin Exam! She couldn't wait to see Ino's face!

"Congratulations Sakura! You did it!"

She tried to peek at Sasuke from the corner of her eyes to see his reaction, but he was resolutely turned away. He was probably too overwhelmed to say anything. She definitely felt a lot of excitement from someone in the emotional connection.

"Very well done Sakura," Kakashi complimented, "You took a page from Shikamaru's book."

"Wait, what happened?" Naruto asked. He hadn't actually seen everything that happened, it had been too fast for him to follow.

"She led Choji on a charge and then set up a string of explosive tags. Her opponent was too dazed to stop his path towards the wall. A good plan, though Sakura, next time, I would advise you to follow through on your attack, "Kakashi warned, "Even if Choji hit the wall, it wasn't guaranteed that he was knocked unconscious. It would have been better to prepare for a secondary attack."

She nodded, though his words didn't pierce her haze of happiness.

Sakura smiled and blushed. She did it! She was in the final with Sasuke-kun! This set off a small chorus of groans from her teammates. She was too happy to stop though. Sakura wasn't going to be left behind.

"All three of you did admirably today," Kakashi said. He honestly hadn't believed that all three of them would be participating in the third round. '_Perhaps I've underestimated them,' _Kakashi thought to himself.

"The eighth round will commence soon," Gekko said, watching as the assistant shinobi fixed the last big hole in the wall. There were a few moments of obligatory hackings before Gekko announced the next pairing.

"The next round will be Inuzuka Kiba versus Hyuga Neji, both from Konohagakure."

Sakura sat down heavily on the floor against the wall, finally feeling comfortable enough to relax for the first time since the exam started. Both of her other teammates already passed and now all three of them would be progressing. Whatever happened next wouldn't change that. She could still see most of the match from here, so she figured it was okay to unwind and relax.

Unlike her, Naruto was still heavily invested in seeing the rest of the competition and he jumped up and down impatiently as the two boys went down to the floor. Sasuke also kept watching, leaning next to the railing as he gathered more information.

Kiba grinned cockily at Neji and the Hyuga gave him a condescending look. Naruto was psyched to see what would happen. He knew that Kiba fought with Akamaru, but he had no idea what the other guy did. He frowned as he remembered the cocky attitude. Why were there so many Sasuke's in the world, he wondered. He never smiled, and his attitude was completely dumb! It was really suckish. If the world had more Naruto's instead of Sasuke's, he'd bet it'd be a better place.

The moment Gekko announced the beginning of the match, Kiba charged at Neji. The Hyuga grabbed onto Kiba's arm, redirecting the energy towards the wall. Kiba barely managed to skid to a stop. He whipped and glared before activating his dog jutsu.

"Both opponents focus on taijutsu style attacks, this should be interesting" Kurenai commented offhandedly.

"Both opponents focus on taijutsu style attacks, this should be interesting" Kurenai commented offhanded.

"Interested to see how Kiba stacks up?" Gai asked competitively.

"No, just curious to see how he handles a fighter like Neji. Our team focuses mainly on reconnaissance so he rarely comes across enemies like this. What about you? How do you think Neji will handle both Kiba and Akamaru?

"Though the Hyuga's specialty is single person combat, that doesn't mean they can't handle more opponents," Gai replied, a confident smile spreading over his face. "With those eyes he sees everything."

"Eyes?" Naruto asked with blatant confusion.

"Don't you know anything about the history of our village?" Sakura asked irritably.

Naruto ducked the feeling before shrugging a little sullenly.

"The Hyugas have a bloodline, and it's a doujutsu, just like Sasuke-kun's," Sakura explained knowledgably.

"Hyugas?" Naruto's brow furrowed. "Wait! Hinata, you're a Hyuga, aren't you?" He asked, turning his full attention to the timid girl who stood a bit down the railing.

'_He remembered me!' _She thought to herself, all while flushing furiously under his gaze.

"Uhm y-y-yes," she answered eventually.

"Good! Then you can explain this whole eye-thing, right?" Naruto asked, coming over to stand next to her. Their shoulders were nearly touching.

Impossibly, her face reddened further.

"I'll d-d-d-do my best." She promised before taking a deep breath. "The B-Byakugan is a bloodline that the Hyuga's have. It allows the user to see the chakra points." Hinata explained. She tried to focus on what she was saying to distract herself from his piercing blue eyes.

"Why's that good?" Naruto scratched his head.

"Naruto-baka! It gives them a huge advantage!" Sakura scolded.

"Why?" Naruto asked, still misunderstanding. "Why does it matter that they can see the chakra and stuff?"

"Because then they can attack the chakra points, dobe," Sasuke scoffed, dripping with condescension, which Sakura gladly echoed through the bond.

"Shut up teme!" Naruto growled.

"T-the chakra points are important to the body and the B-Byakugan allows the user to close them," Hinata stuttered.

"Oh! That's way cool!" Naruto effused.

"Naruto, you don't even know what that means," Sakura said, a tad condescending.

"I know it's awesome," He retorted lamely.

"T-t-traditionally, it's used to s-stop an opponent from accessing their chakra." Hinata toyed with her fingers, studiously avoiding Naruto's eyes.

Naruto's face lit up with amazement as the full implication of the power sunk in. "Oh wow."

"Exactly," Sakura replied.

"Is that why his eyes are all weird and veiny looking?" He asked tactlessly.

"O-oh, uhm, it's a s-sign that the doujutsu is activated," Hinata said, awkwardly looking down at the floor.

"And you do that too?" Naruto asked, staring intently at her.

"Y-yeah, I can," She said, squirming under his gaze as she examined the concrete floor.

"That's so cool!"

Her eyes shot up, catching his brimming smile. "T-t-thank you N-N-N-Naruto," Hinata stuttered, her face flushing badly.

"Sure! Uhh, are you okay Hinata, your face looks sorta red," Naruto asked, brow furrowing.

"God, so hopeless!" Sakura muttered to herself. Naruto caught her emotions and sent her a curious glance.

"What is it?" Naruto inquired.

"Nothing, don't even ask," she said shortly.

"But Sakura-chan!"

"Pay attention to the match Naruto, Sakura; you might learn something." Kakashi suggested. Now that his students were going on to the final round, they needed as much information they could get. "One of these genin could be your opponent in the final round." Sakura and Naruto exchanged serious looks. The pink-haired kunoichi carefully picked herself off the ground to get a better view despite her aching muscles.

Naruto and Sakura turned back to the battle, watching with blatant amazement as Neji gradually pounded away at Kiba and Akamaru with what seemed like small strikes, but built up to fully cover Kiba's chakra points to the point he could no longer stand. Akamaru who was still standing despite his weakened state, barked pitifully at Kiba. The Inuzuka glared weakly at Neji, still conscious and very displeased with the battle.

"That was awesome." Naruto exhaled.

"The winner of match eight is Hyuga Neji."

"That's right Neji!" Gai said with his good-guy pose. The Hyuga was silent as he rejoined the group, arms folded and eyes expressionless. The coolness of his actions sort of irritated Naruto, but at the same time, the blond boy couldn't help but find the techniques he used to be particularly neat.

'_Though it's pretty dangerous,' _Naruto thought as he watched the supplementary examiners clean the blood off the floor with various jutsu. The fact that such a gentle girl like Hinata could use the same jutsu struck him with amazement.

Kurenai went down the floor and talked to Kiba before picking him up and bringing him up to the walkway. She tried to lean her student carefully against the wall but every movement made him wince in pain.

"Y-you should be resting, Kiba-kun!" Hinata said, worry in her voice.

"And miss your match? No way!" He asserted wearily. The smile on his face was genuine, making Hinata smile in response.

"The ninth match will begin after the pairings have been chosen," Gekko said after everything was repaired. The roulette went again.

The remaining genin held their collective breaths. Then the names on the screen stopped, along with Hinata's heart.

"The ninth match will be Hyuga Hinata of Konoha, against Subaku no Gaara of Suna.

Memories of the brutal killing her and her team had witnessed filtered in front of her mind, and her breath caught in fear.

"O-oh God," She uttered.

"What is it Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"I-I don't think I can—"

"Weak."

Naruto whipped his head around to find the person who said that single word. The other Hyuga met his eyes challengingly.

"What did you say?!" He asked angrily.

"I said, _weak."_ Neji repeated with a challenging expression. "Do you not even have you the pride to face him like a shinobi?" His lips curled.

"Naruto-kun, it's nothing. Neji-san is right; I should face him like a shinobi. I can do this." The waver in her voice belied her words.

"Hinata," the voice was soft. She turned to see Kiba with a desperate look in his eyes. "Don't do this, he urged."

"I-I- don't know if I can do this," she whispered. Her confliction was palpable.

"Of course you can!" Naruto exclaimed eagerly. "You can do all that awesome chakra stuff your cousin did, huh Hinata?" Naruto asked, admiration and excitement visible.

Hinata blushed. "W-w-well, Neji-san is very talented fo—"

"Don't put yourself down like that! I bet you're just as amazing!" Naruto crowed, "You were always super smart in the academy, and I'm sure you've just gotten smarter and more powerful!"

Her face reddened even further at his praise. "N-N-Naruto-kun . . ."

"You can do it!" He said with a brimming smile and a thumbs up.

"R-r-r-right." She took a deep breath and went down the stairs.

"Tsk. As if a few words can change a person's fate." The disapproving sound came from behind him, and Naruto whipped around once more.

"You know, you're really beginning to piss me off!" Naruto said as he glared at Neji, who decided to pointedly ignore him

"Are you okay Kiba?" Kurenai asked, noting his strange silence.

"Oh shit," Kiba said distantly, his face pale.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"That guy," Kiba swallowed as the red-haired ninja in question appeared on the ground level with a flash of sand, "That guy ain't normal."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he's fucking crazy!"

"Kiba!" Kurenai said in a scolding tone.

"Sorry, but I'm being serious," He said with an unusual amount of solemnity.

"What happened?"

"It was during when we were in the forest of death." Kiba began explaining. "We were on our way back to the tower— snagging our scroll was cake with Akamaru, and Hinata's powers. While were headed back, Akamaru noticed an enemy ahead, and we decided to scout them."

"It was the Suna team?" Sakura guessed.

Kiba nodded seriously. "They were fighting against some Ame ninja. The red-head kid— He handled them like it was nothing. No one even touched him, and then he did this thing with the sand. His sand isn't normal. He controls it really weird. Anyways, it surrounded this guy and then it just—" Kiba looked nauseous.

"Crushed him," Shino put forth, startling Naruto and Sakura who had forgotten about his presence.

"There was so much blood," Kiba said, a little dazed still, "That guy is a monster."

Naruto's face grew impassive as he listened to the story. He looked out towards the floor where the stoic redhead stared blankly at Hinata who had a soft tremble moving through her entire body.

The orange clad ninja sucked in a deep breath. "YOU CAN DO IT HINATA!" He bellowed, ignoring the pain in his throat. She jumped before turning to the side and seeing his large grin.

"H-hai!" She returned with a soft smile before looking back at her opponent. A small blaze of determination filled her gaze. Across from her, the Suna nin didn't bat an eyelash.

"Why'd you do that?!" Kiba hissed.

"If she's thinking like that how do you think she could win, huh? You need to support her!"

Kiba looked to the side guiltily. "I just want her safe. She isn't safe going against a _monster_ like that!_"_

Naruto's smile grew a little sad. That was a word he heard a lot, directed at him though. Both his teammates turn towards him curiously. He quickly dismissed the feeling and replaced it with determination before walking a few steps down the balcony to be next to Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Both opponents are here, so let the ninth match begin." The brunet proctor backed away.

Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan and assumed the gentle fist stance. The red-head remained where he was, arms crossed and gaze blank. The Hyuga heiress quickly assessed her opponent's chakra system, and paused hesitantly when she realized how developed it was. His chakra was on par with a high jonin's! Sand began pouring from her opponent's large gourd and the particles were slowly filling the air, and she knew that she needed to act quickly, or else she'd find herself in a similar situation as the Ame shinobi. Close combat was her preferred style, and from what she saw, he seemed to attack mostly from far away. Considering how he used the sand, it made sense. She hoped that his close combat skills weren't as developed by extension. She couldn't know for certain but it was her best shot. But that raised the question:

How could she get close to her opponent?

She had a feeling that he used his sand as a shield as well and threw a couple kunai his direction to make sure. As expected, the sand immediately rushed to his aid. If she wanted to get past that barrier, she'd need something much stronger, she concluded.

The experiment had also shown her something else though. The Suna nin had not moved at all, despite the attack. In fact, he hadn't taken a step the entire round. Also, when defending the kunai, the sand never solidified. She wondered if he couldn't or if he just knew that the constant shifting would be able to stop the velocity. So far he had been taking his time, perhaps assessing her, and she was grateful for that.

Another problem rose to her mind. Gaara's sand was quick, so even if she managed to get close to him, how could she avoid being quickly caught and, at best, kicked away, and at worst, killed? She took a deep breath.

There was only one way to do it; she'd have to get eliminate him as a threat with one move.

That was something to consider, but she still didn't even know how to go about getting close to him.

"Go Hinata!"

The continuing support from her crush lifted her spirit. She wondered what he would do in this situation. Naruto had the most inventive plans ever. People often made remarks about how dumb he was, but she knew better. She could really use a dose of his ingenuity right now; normal ninja tactics wouldn't be enough for this fight.

Hinata glanced heavenward for an answer and slowly, a strategy began to form in her head. An insane, ludicrous, over the top, and completely dangerous plan. In other words; a plan Naruto would definitely approve of. Hinata drew a kunai from her pouch and stared intently at it. She hesitated at the thought, feeling faint at the very idea of doing it. Without a doubt, this would be the most perilous thing she'd ever done in her thirteen years of life. She could even die.

Could she really take that risk?

In the end, the sudden spate of sand that was heading towards her with frightening rapidity was what made her decision. Terror in her mind and determination in her eyes, she turned away from the flood of sand and towards the opposite wall, kunai gripped tightly in her hand. The sand was fast, but thankfully, the preexisting space between them helped her keep ahead.

"Hinata!" That was Kiba. His worry touched her, but she was going forward. For this battle Hinata was taking Naruto's nindo as her own.

When she reached the wall, her teammate's voice rose higher in concern, but she didn't miss a step. Hinata channeled chakra to the bottom of her feet and began climbing the tall walls of the stadium. Each footfall brought her higher and higher until she reached the junction that connected the wall to the ceiling. The sand had followed her and she pressed herself to keep moving. Her breath came out in small pants, and when she looked down she thought she would faint. Naruto's bright, blond hair caught her eye though.

"I never give up," she murmured to herself. "Because that's my ninja way." Eyes forward she ran, ignoring the drain on her chakra.

Hinata knew she needed to act fast; before her opponent had time to gather himself, and before the sand finally caught her. Her heart pounded in her ears, and the rush of blood made her dizzy. Terror ran through her body like lightning and her body shook violently. But she was already here.

She inhaled a deep breath before exhaling.

Using the Byakugan, she lined up her shot and then

She let

herself

go . . .

Cries echoed through the stadium, but she heard them mutedly, like they were coming through water. Nothing pierced her sharp barrier of determination. Her opponent's eyes widened as she fell towards him face first with staggering speed. His feet were glued to the floor, maybe out of confidence in his shield or maybe in shock from her plan. She didn't know. She didn't care.

Sand rose to defend its user, and with swift chakra laden slices from her kunai, it was scattered. She was a meter away, and she braced herself for impact by channeling as much chakra as she could into her legs. She landed nearly on top of him, making him stagger away. Her knees almost blew out despite the large deposit of energy she had layered her legs and joints with, but she ignored that. She couldn't afford to think right now. If she did, Hinata knew that her psyche would probably crack.

She dropped the kunai and began jabbing into his body with her quick palm thrusts to his heart tenketsu. There was a thick shield of something, but she poured as much energy as she could into hands and continued attacking his heart. She saw them blinking out as she closed them, doing some serious internal damage. It was a serious and violent method, but her only option. She had to finish this battle now! Her hands ached despite the fact they were chakra coated as the hard sand shell tried desperately to remain strong. She pressed on anyways.

A strange choking sound slowly began building in her opponent's throats before it became a hysterical shout. The sand suddenly grabbed her around her midsection, breaking several of her ribs in the process, and frantically threw her to the side. She landed harshly on the stone floors wincing. Her wrist had probably been broken too and the Byakugan deactivated. Hinata's breathing was faint and she could hardly move. She felt disappointment fill her hazed mind despite the pain. For a while, Hinata believed she really could have done it. In her last glimpses of his system though, she noticed that the tenketsu she closed were open again. Maybe she'd never had a chance to begin with.

Blood gathered in her throat and she coughed it out pitifully. Afterwards, her head lolled against the floor as she stared at the red-haired shinobi

Her opponent was still screaming in a pained, blood-curdling way.

The adrenaline that had empowered Hinata in her entire reckless quest was abandoning her. In its place, a bone chilling fear began to spread through her veins like ice water.

"My heart hurts mother!" He clutched his head. "Mother is this pain? It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" His voice was hysterical and his head began to pulse in a strange unreal way that unnerved all the onlookers. His eyes were moving frantically around the room until they finally settled on Hinata.

"The match is over, the winner is Subaku no Gaara," the proctor said, jumping in as he noticed Hinata's debilitated state.

The Suna shinobi never shifted his gaze from the Hyuga heiress. His eyes were sadistic. As her stared her down, the currents of sand shifted more and more violently in the air. Suddenly, in a moment of complete discord, all the sand in the room collected before heading towards Hinata in a terrible wave.

Her shriek was caught in her throat as the reality of death appeared in her mind.

"Enough!" Kurenai appeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Suiton: Suijun!" A large wall of water rose, catching the sand and thickening it into mud.

"Why did you save her?" Gaara asked agitatedly. "Why did you save her? When she has lost her use?"

"Because she is my student, and I care for her deeply." Kurenai spoke with an unwavering gaze.

Without another look at the hostile, muddled Suna nin, she carefully picked up her battered student and walked towards the medic shinobi.

"Hinata!" Kiba cried when he finally found a way to shake himself from his horrified stupor. He began running full speed towards his teammate. Naruto was right behind him, worry flooding his system.

The Hyuga heiress was dazed, but still conscious.

"Kiba-kun," she murmured with a soft smile.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata turned to him. "I tried to have a nindo, I tried to never give up."

"You didn't you didn't Hinata." Naruto found the words hard to find as he looked at her beat-up face.

"Did I do okay?" she asked sluggishly.

"G—God, Hinata," his hands shook as he pulled on the best smile he could muster. "That was the most incredible this I've ever seen my entire life. You're an amazing shinobi. If anyone says otherwise I'll punch them in the face!"

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." She replied quietly, returning a small smile in exchange. A small well of happiness sprung in her heart. Her crush believed in her. Hinata didn't think she could ever be so happy. Basking in the warm emotion, she finally let go of her consciousness and fell asleep.

The medic nin carried her away, leaving Naruto and Kiba feeling lost.

"Why did you make her do that?!" Kiba demanded, turning on Naruto furiously.

Before Naruto could even open his mouth to reply, Kurenai had placed a calming hand on her student's shoulder.

"Kiba, no one 'made' Hinata do anything. It was her choice, as an adult and a ninja of the village." Kurenai's voice was firm. Kiba deflated, his feelings going up and down violently— Anger and now sadness. He didn't know what to do. The jonin carefully steered her conflicted genin up the stairs, away from battle zone.

The supplementary proctors had already begun repairing the damage, but Gaara still hadn't moved from the center. The Suna shinobi was staring intently at the small puddle of Hinata's blood the Hyuga had coughed up.

"You—" Naruto hissed between clenched teeth. He stomped over to where the Suna ninja stood motionless. "You bastard!"

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted. The pure anger swirling around him though made the air catch in her throat. Beside her, she knew the rest of the competitors were watching with fear, as they waited with baited-breaths to see the red-head's reaction.

"Why did you keep attacking her? Even after the match was over, why?!"

"It isn't over until she is dead, only then will my existence have worth." The redhead shifted his gaze towards Naruto, unseeingly.

"Your existence?!" Naruto growled. His nails lengthened and cut into the palms of his hands. Ignorant of the pain, he held his hand out towards the other boy, blood dripping off the length of his fingers.

"Fuck your existence. I swear, I will beat you. And I _never _go back on my word."

"Why do you say . . . Something for her . . . I can kill you . . . but you say," Gaara began, taking a step back, "She was weak, she was a piece to be used."

"She isn't just a tool!" Naruto shouted. "And no way in _hell_ could you ever kill me!"

"She is useless. She lost; her life has no meaning—"

"She is my friend!" Naruto pushed, "I don't care about if she lost!"

"You," Gaara swayed clutching his head, "Mother finds you interesting." Sand slowly began to gather in the air around Naruto.

Naruto batted the sand away from his face. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Are you . . . like me?" Gaara asked point blank.

"Huh?!"

"Do you need proof of your existence?"

Naruto's hair bristled and his eyes began to fade into a dark red color.

Suddenly the Hokage appeared in the center of the room, the Suna jonin on one side and Kakashi on the other.

"The match is over. Both of the non-competitors must leave so that match ten may begin." His eyes were flinty as he stared down the two unsettling boys. Naruto's red eyes especially unnerved him. After a few moments, the irises faded back into the familiar blue shade and the Hokage barely resisted exhaling in relief.

"Whatever," Gaara said distantly. His eyes stared long at Naruto before he left the floor with a swirl of sand and appeared back on the left side of the balcony.

"Naruto," Kakashi urged quietly, placing his hand on his student's shoulder. Naruto sullenly made his way up the stars. The rage was still clear in his eyes.

"The tenth round will begin momentarily." Gekko cut through the tense air only for a tenser silence afterwards.

As the blond walked back through the balcony, his eyes settled on Neji and the rage only built again.

"Do you think she doesn't have any shinobi pride now? Did you see her bleed for her belief?! Does that satisfy you?!" Naruto demanded harshly. The generally stoic Hyuga took a step back as the blond's royal blue eyes were moving back into the scarlet shade. Gai exhaled suddenly from behind them.

"What are y—"

"Naruto." Kakashi snapped, tightening his hold on his student. Naruto forced his eyes away from the Hyuga heir and walked with a stormy expression to where the rest of his team stood. He leant against the bars, gripping the metal tightly.

"Naruto," Sakura asked hesitantly. The complete and total fury she felt coursing through their shared bond was smothering her. She was managing to resist being pulled into it, but couldn't stop the uneasiness she felt in her gut. Beside her, she saw Sasuke's eyes fill with a terrible haze.

"What?" the blond asked irritably.

"Naruto, are you okay?"

"What do you—" Naruto suddenly remembered that they were feeling his rage too. Sakura was looking especially disturbed, and borderline pained, by the emotion. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to hurt anyone on his team. Naruto sucked in a deep breath. He tried to slow his heart and stop the blood that was pumping furiously in his ears. "I'm okay," He said tightly at length.

Sakura was glad to find the feeling lessen slightly. She noticed a few drops of blood fall down her teammate's hand. She wondered sometimes how anyone could be as driven as he was.

"Talk about freaky, what was that?" Tenten murmured aloud.

Gai just shook his head silently. None of the genin could truly understand what a catastrophe was just avoided.

No one uttered a sound as the remaining two competitors went down to the stage. Naruto was so exhausted all of a sudden. The hatred he felt was so heavy.

"Match ten, between Subaku no Temari of Suna and Dosu from the sound will begin, now!" Gekko leapt back as the final match began.

* * *

The Hokage ran his eyes over the remaining ten ninja. This Chunin Exam hadn't gone like he thought it would at all. His eyes stopped on the Uchiha-heir. He still needed to see the mark, but from what Kakashi told him, it was a complex master seal, made only more puzzling because it was entwined in Orochimaru's work. Then there was Naruto and Gaara to consider. He knew without a doubt that the conflict that almost happened would have ended messily. He couldn't afford to have such a confrontation occur. Perhaps he could talk to the Kazekage about arranging the tournament so that the two don't fight. He doubted that would work out like he hoped it would. The Kazekage, in his ambitious ways, would see this as an opportunity to prove that the sand's _jinchuuriki_ was superior to Konoha's. The political play wasn't one Sarutobi was willing to participate in, but it's possible that he wouldn't have a choice in the matter . . . Maybe he should send Jiraiya to the boy. At least that way he might be better prepared.

"I congratulate you on completing the preliminary. You ten shall go forward and compete in the third round of the exam for the title of chunin," Sarutobi said.

Gekko stepped forward, coughing as he did, "Each of you will draw a number from this box. It will determine the order of the fights and the matchups."

The only genin remaining in the room went up, one-by-one, and claimed a numbered orb.

"These are the final standings:"

#1 Uzumaki Naruto vs. Neji Hyuuga

#2 Sabaku no Gaara vs. Sabaku no Kankuro

#3 Haruno Sakura vs. Aburame Shino

#4 Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari

#5 Rock Lee vs. Uchiha Sasuke

All of the remaining competitors were looking forward to the matches, though for different reasons. Naruto stared at the Hyuuga from the corner of his eye, his gaze furious. He would beat his cousin for putting Hinata down so much. And after that first round, he'd beat Gaara!

Sasuke lit up with keen anticipation. He and Lee would finally get the rematch they deserved. The determined look in Lee's expression echoed similar sentiments. Sasuke's mouth curled into a smirk. He was beginning to look forward to his training.

When Sakura first pulled her number, she had exhaled in relief. The fact she wasn't going up against Sasuke or Naruto right off the bat lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. It was hard for her to even _think_ about going up against her crush. After the bug-user picked his ball though, her stomach dropped. Sakura shivered as she remembered the not-really-a-match between Shino and Ino. She'd need some serious help with that. She glanced around, she supposed she got off light, all things considered.

When Kankuro received his number and found out he was going against his brother, he couldn't help but feel fear. His brother was barely sane most the time, and after what happened earlier, he knew he was rightly afraid. Gaara was even more unstable than usual which was a truly frightening thought. He'd most likely forfeit when it came to it. They couldn't afford to make Gaara lose chakra before the invasion either. At least he had a good excuse besides fear to forfeit the match.

"The round is instant elimination. The winner goes forward and the loser leaves," The Hokage said, "You all have a month to prepare for the final. Good luck."

With that the Hokage disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

As the other teams gradually gravitated away, Sakura's feet fell out from under her. "I—we did it."

"Sakura-chan!"

The worry Naruto felt softened the blow of her exhaustion. Nonetheless, she was about to pass out.

"Come on everyone," Kakashi said, as he carefully picked Sakura up and settled her on his back, "Let's meet tomorrow at the bridge and discuss our next plan of action."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded, looking both determined and totally worn out.

"I am proud of you all," Kakashi spoke with seriousness, "You fought strong opponents today and proved yourselves to be superior among your peers. I have faith you will all do fine at the finals. But let's leave that for later. Sleep well!" With that parting word, Kakashi and by extension, Sakura, disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto felt soft happiness at the words. Kakashi had never said that before. Beyond that though, he was more eager to tell his father about his clever win. Despite the heavy unpleasant loathing that had taken residency in his stomach, he couldn't help feeling excited that he passed.

"Why are you so excited?" Sasuke asked, yawning as the two left the arena. Darkness had just fallen, reminding Naruto that he hadn't eaten anything all day besides the ration bar. Ichiraku was likely closed by now, but Naruto had enough Ramen at home to satisfy his hunger tonight.

"Why do you think?" Naruto asked cheekily.

"Whatever dobe, it's too late for this." There was no negative energy behind his words which just made Naruto grin.

"I'll see you tomorrow, teme!" Naruto said, smiling as the other shinobi turned the opposite way Naruto was going.

"Hn." Perhaps it was because he was so tired, but Naruto would almost say that he saw the harsh stony lines of Sasuke's face relax under the lamplight. For whatever reason, that fact made him smile even more and he quickly jumped over the trees and houses to his home— and more importantly, his father.

* * *

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**So that's taken care of. Let me know if you think it was realistic. I truly feel Sakura could win if faced with the right opponent.**

**ON SUPER!NARUTO hell to the no. Naruto will not get super strong out of nowhere. He'll struggle, but learn bit by bit with Minato's help. The important thing in this fic isn't that he has a new instructor, but a father. That difference will be addressed later on. Any questions? Feel free to ask.**

**Lemme know whatcha think.**

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed last chapter!**


	5. New Beginnings

**Hey everyone. Thanks for your patience~ **

**Here's the latest chapter. **

**Much love to everyone who reviewed . . . that being**

**paper wind, Guest, buterflypuss, etheral-23, MegDBrew, SupernaturalHearts, MetroNeko, Tsukiyo69, Gust, skyisthelimit, Akatsuki Yume, MantaCat, Illucida, Rici, Sumeri, Guest, and midnighthaunting12.**

**Whew! Last chapter got some loving! :)**

**By the by, I added a poll for pairings! If you don't want a pairing, vote that way! I like gen fics myself. :)**

* * *

_Chapter 5: New Beginnings_

* * *

Orochimaru tapped his fingers against the wood of the desk impatiently. He had returned to one of the first bases he had made decades ago when he still lived in the village. The lab equipment brought back many memories. There were still a few decomposing corpses and skeletons from a few of his more unsavory experiments. As enjoyable as it was to take a walk down memory lane, he still felt like he was wasting time. Orochimaru regretted listening to Kabuto and agreeing to lie low. He was missing seeing Sasuke-kun in action. Observation was one of the most important parts in experimentation. Hearing about it second hand was a weak alternative.

The sound of footsteps reached Orochimaru's ears as someone approached the door. A quick flash of chakra undid the lock on the door and Kabuto filled the opening.

"Orochimaru-sama," the gray-haired shinobi dropped one knee to the floor.

"Kabuto," the snake-sannin drawled, "What have you found out?"

"It appears they know we're here with the sound village, and that there is a plan to invade," Kabuto informed him.

Whatever Orochimaru was expecting to hear, it wasn't that.

"How?" He questioned flatly.

"I overheard a coded message. Konoha is preparing for an attack at the third round of the Chunin Exams. They already captured Kin, Zaku, and Dosu, but I disposed of them before they could be questioned."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed at the news.

"They are still unaware of the connection with Suna, correct?"

"Yes, and to my knowledge there is nothing that links the two."

"Then things will move according to plan," Orochimaru decided. "Suna will invade, assuming that sound will be there to back up; my presence as their Kazekage will ensure that. Due to this little hiccup, the sound will be missing. The Suna shinobi will be slaughtered. Their _jinchuuriki_ should kick up a sufficient ruckus to distract the majority of the village, along with destroying a large part it. Most importantly, I will still be able to kill Sarutobi . . . So long as the barrier can be erected, then I think everything will go swimmingly." Better than swimmingly perhaps, because it would be fewer Suna nin after his life once they discover the double-cross.

"I will ensure it happens," Kabuto spoke solemnly.

"And the heaven's seal? What information have you gathered?"

"When I saw Sasuke in the forest of death there did appear to be something strange about the mark. I apologize Orochimaru-sama, I was unable to procure pictures." He had attempted multiple times to get close to Sasuke when he met up with team seven in the forest of death. His neck was clearly bothering Sasuke and he rubbed it often. But whenever Kabuto commented casually about it and offered to take a look, he was shrugged off and glared at.

He could have forced him, but for the sake of maintaining his cover, he didn't. If Kabuto had known it was already going to be blown then he wouldn't have bothered.

"Something strange about the mark?"

"There appeared to be another seal in place, though I do not know the specifics; I don't have an adequate understanding of the subject."

Which was reasonable considering fuuinjutsu was a dying art. Orochimaru was one of the few practitioners with any true skill. The lack of masters narrowed the field greatly as to who was the culprit. His old teammate, Jiraiya was talented but the snake-sannin heavily doubted he played a part in this. Kakashi, if Orochimaru recalled correctly, had some talent, taught to him mainly from his irksome teacher. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Kakashi would have interfered in the exam, but without any information, all he could was speculate. Orochimaru hated speculating. Despite that, he supposed things had begun to get truly interesting . . .

"While Sasuke-kun was not my primary reason for coming to Konohagakure, I don't like disappointment." Orochimaru spoke with a smooth, though dangerous tone.

"Forgive me Orochimaru-sama. I will rectify this mistake immediately," Kabuto replied subserviently.

"I doubt that. Kakashi and Sarutobi will most likely hide him until the third exam out of caution. Today is too immediate. Sarutobi could very likely assign a guard and you cannot to get caught right now. At the moment, your undercover work is more important," Orochimaru said, "We will have time yet to gather what we need. Killing Sarutobi though, is the top priority of our mission in Konoha. You have until the end of the invasion to procure photographs."

"Of course Orochimaru-sama."

"Dismissed."

Kabuto nodded before he rose and left the room. Carefully replacing the neko ANBU mask, he jumped away from the base and into the village.

* * *

The Sandaime exhaled a puff of smoke heavily as he set the photos on his desk. The pictures of the seal Kakashi had taken were disturbing to say the least. Almost as disturbing as the effects. Sarutobi had never heard of anything —seal or jutsu— that could create an emotional bond between people. The current situation was beyond unknown territory. They had broken new ground, except no one knew how it happened, nor, more importantly, how to undo it.

It was times like this he dearly wished Minato was still alive. Minato's clever mind and knowledge of fuuinjutsu would really come in handy. Beyond that though, the man had an uncanny way of finding the answers to the most complex problems with a clarity beyond his years. Yes, it was these moments when the Third really missed his successor

"So Orochimaru has returned to the leaf," Sarutobi mused. "And intelligence suggests he intends to invade along with the sound shinobi at the end of the third round."

"What Sakura and Naruto mentioned made it seem that way. Orochimaru's appearance is unsettling. He usually has grander plans in store and I doubt he came by the village just to mark Sasuke." Kakashi stood before the third, book tucked firmly away.

"This knowledge will help us greatly as we prepare." The Third nodded. "Onto the seal. So you believe that the red seal is blocking the heaven seal?" Sarutobi repeated.

Kakashi nodded.

"And as a side effect, for reasons unknown, it forces the members of team seven to be emotionally connected," he summed up.

"Yes," Kakashi answered. "It also seems that they are able to discern who is giving off what emotion, which could be something to consider."

Sarutobi hmmed to himself before sighing.

"It's clear they must have participated somehow. That is perhaps one of the more concerning problems." The Sandaime rubbed his forehead. "That means that whoever made the seal not only had access to Naruto and Sakura's blood, but their chakra." At least this they could explain. There were various methods one could go about obtaining chakra, especially from unseasoned genin. However, that implied the user was much more experienced.

"Sakura had clearly been placed under a genjutsu of sorts. She couldn't answer a single one of my questions and seemed entirely unbothered by that fact, not second guessing why that was at all. In addition, she displayed confliction about showing her mark," Kakashi reported.

"Hmm, a powerful jutsu indeed. Beyond a genin's power." Sarutobi tapped his pipe on the desk to resettle the embers. "Did Naruto display similar signs?"

"Not that I could see. He was clearly surprised to see the marks though."

"So maybe a memory jutsu in Naruto's case," the Third hypothesized.

"But why cast two different jutsu?" Kakashi wondered aloud. He sighed. This was becoming more complex all the time. "I think Inoichi would be helpful in examining their minds to see if we can find any more clues as to who did this. Maybe there will be a solution to their problem as well."

Sarutobi shook his head. "Inoichi should examine Sakura's mind, but Naruto's is completely out of the question."

Kakashi quickly made the connection. "Of course. I will bring her around to TI as soon as possible."

"There is nothing you can do to lessen the connection?" The Sandaime asked, "I know Minato taught you some of what he knew about fuuinjutsu."

Kakashi sighed. He didn't feel even remotely comfortable attempting to remove it or tamper with it until he knew more about it. Plus, if this other seal was indeed keeping the heaven mark in check, the last he'd want to do is undo it, even if it meant putting his genin through the emotional loops. Keeping Sasuke out of Orochimaru's control took priority. He doubted that his genin would fully understand his reasoning though, so perhaps he'd just keep it to himself. They didn't need to worry about such matters.

"No, there's nothing I feel confident doing," the gray-haired ninja said at length.

"I see." Sarutobi leaned back in his chair. "What do you imagine happened?" the third asked.

"The logical assumption is that Orochimaru had created some new kind of experiment, but at the same time . . ."

"You do not believe this to be the case?" the Sandaime asked perceptively.

"No," Kakashi revealed, "We expected that Orochimaru could eventually go after the sharingan. Granted, I don't think anyone thought he would attack this early," Kakashi said. "We know from the past that the curse mark of Heaven would have gotten him what he wanted, a vessel. From what I can tell, the seal placed over it captures and filters out Orochimaru's poisonous chakra, instead of allowing it to fester. Why would he do such a thing? It appears as though someone was purposely trying to seal the curse mark." He frowned. "Something no ninja has ever been able to do."

"So you don't believe is was Orochimaru."

"I don't know what to think," Kakashi said with a sigh.

"Does it appear to be stable?" Sarutobi asked the million dollar question.

Kakashi thought about it before nodding, "Yes the seal appears firm. The dark chakra is not leaking into Sasuke's system. Aside from the shared emotions, there doesn't seem to be anything awry." He exhaled heavily.

"_And if I weren't a ninja, and didn't know better than to question every move an enemy made, I might see this as a blessing in disguise," _the grey haired nin thought to himself.

"Very well," The Sandaime said eventually, "We will leave the seal alone and wait for Jiraiya. He will be more informed."

"It's probably about time for him to meet Naruto as well," Kakashi said distantly. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Naruto was his sensei's son.

"In the meantime though, I want you to carefully observe their reactions to make sure nothing too terrible is afoot."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

"Oh, and by the way, congratulations on having all three of your genin pass. I'm looking forward to their third rounds," the Sandaime smiled.

"Thank you," Kakashi bobbed his head lightly. He was still a little shocked himself.

"Is there anything else?" The Hokage asked as he noticed the Jonin had not moved.

"Well . . ."

_"That style, it looks like—"_

The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"_But that's impossible."_ Kakashi sighed and said aloud, "It's nothing."

"Very well, you are dismissed then," the Hokage said, turning his head back to his paperwork.

The jonin quickly left the room, his thoughts mulling over what he had just heard. He wished there was something he could do to help, but the matter seemed out of his league. Kakashi doubted that there was much he could do beside wait and watch. He supposed the best thing would be to focus on the upcoming third round. He needed to find a way to train all three genin.

The three members of team seven had no choice but to train separately. If they ended up making it through the tournament, there was a chance that they would end up fighting each other. With that in mind, he also didn't want to make it seem as though he was favoring one over the other. Sakura in particular would take that hard on her confidence. He still needed to find teachers for her and Naruto. Although, he had a good one in mind for his female student, Naruto proved to be a tougher customer. All too soon, he arrived at the bridge. Perhaps he should go visit the memorial stone for a while. Then again it was nearing twelve . . . He sighed. Procrastinating, he sadly knew, wouldn't help.

"Yo," he greeted, pasting on a neutral expression as he meandered onto the bridge. His appearance made Sakura and Naruto jump up and point their fingers at him.

"You're late!" they exclaimed, both looking fiery. A quick glance towards the Uchiha, who had locked his jaw, told him that the feeling was unanimous.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized half-heartedly, "There was this endangered bird that hurt its wing—"

"Save it," Sasuke grit out, "Just tell us how we're training."

That was probably the most expressive Kakashi had seen Sasuke since the three had first told him about the seal. Sasuke continued to viciously resist expressing the sudden torrent of emotions (unlike his teammates, who were more likely to give in). Kakashi couldn't blame him; if he had been in their situation, he probably would have done the same thing. Despite that, he recognized from an objective standpoint that it would be very bad in the long run for the Uchiha to further bottle up his emotions. That was a powder keg just waiting to blow if he ever saw one.

"Well, my cute little Genin, I've decided that you all will train separately."

"Why Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura looked upset at the prospect of being separated from Sasuke.

"Because, what if all of you end up progressing through the tournament," Kakashi explained. "You might have to fight each other. We've been fortunate so far in that it hasn't already happened."

The three Genin exchanged hesitant looks. The sudden uncertainty in the air was palpable.

"Which is why all three of you will be training under different sensei. I will be training Sasuke," Kakashi said, "Because I don't think anyone else will be able to help with the sharingan."

Both Naruto and Sakura visibly deflated.

"What about me Sensei?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"I've found a special jonin to train you. He has excellent chakra control, quite like yourself, so I think he'll be well suited. He should be able to teach you jutsu for your chakra levels and how to maximize the efficiency of your moves."

Sakura nodded, looking a bit better about it.

"And Naruto—"

"Actually sensei, I was wondering if I could train on my own for a little while," Naruto spoke with unusual tentativeness.

The other three blinked.

"You want to train on your own?" Kakashi asked blankly. The psychological profile he received upon taking the team informed him of a simple fact about Naruto, one which would end up being confirmed repeatedly as they did missions. That simple truth was that Naruto did not like to be alone. If there was any way shape or form that he could spend time around an adult or fellow peer and have their attention, he would jump on it. Kakashi felt a little melancholy. This was most likely due to the fact that he had spent the vast majority of his life alone. Which brought him back to his confusion. Why would Naruto ask to be alone?

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura scoffed, "You need a jonin to teach you all the important things you'll need for the final exam. Not taking advantage of Kakashi-sensei's offer is stupid!"

"I have some stuff I want to try!" Naruto defended.

"Are you certain you don't want a jonin sensei?" Kakashi asked, "Sakura is right; Jonin are wonderful resources to have around."

At Naruto's firm nod, Kakashi thought about it for a moment. Technically, there was nothing wrong about Naruto's request . . .

"Very well," he agreed eventually, "If you change your mind, then let me know. We'll find you someone."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto beamed.

The gray-haired jonin just shook his head in confusion, still not understanding his blond student's motives. "Well, either way, you will spend a little time with a jonin," Kakashi said.

"What do you mean, Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I think it would be good if you and Naruto checked in with me every so often," Kakashi explained, "That way I can track your progress." And more importantly, he could track the effects of the seal. So far there had been no visible negative side-effects, but Kakashi had a feeling that this was a type of problem that would build over time. With that in mind, it was imperative that it was monitored thoroughly.

"Okay," Sakura said, looking happier. Maybe she would see Sasuke-kun during those sessions. "How often?"

"Oh, why don't we do every other day?" he proposed, "Sakura can have the odd days, and Naruto the even starting mmm today. So I'll see you Monday Naruto."

"Sunday too!? I have family dinner those days!" Sakura blurted. "Give Sundays to Naruto!" Her face turned red as she realized what she said. The faint wistful feeling coupled with the harsh bitterness she felt from her teammates. There was also a level of hurt that came from Naruto. She belatedly noticed that she had just shoved the fact that her blond teammate had no plans on Sunday like she did, no family dinner. Regret and guilt stabbed into her. Even if she didn't have an emotional connection, their expressions would have told her enough.

"I know your family wants to have their time with you, but you must understand Sakura that preparing for this tournament will probably be the most difficult thing you've done so far. The training will be intense. It will have to be, because your opponents certainly won't pull any punches," Kakashi warned. "Because of that, you are going to keep the Sunday meetings, if only as a reminder of that fact."

Sakura gulped. Her stomach settled quickly as through the bond she felt the bitterness flip over into fear . . . and excitement.

"Having said that," Kakashi continued, his face back into its normal mild state, "The meeting will probably only be an hour or two of catching up."

"Okay," she said, feeling foolish at having even complained.

"Alright, now why don't we start today then?" Kakashi proposed, "Sakura, come with me and we'll meet your new sensei."

"Right!" she said, trying to sound determined.

"Wait, Kakashi, what about the seal?" Sasuke asked. All three genin turned to Kakashi expectantly.

"There's nothing to be done about it," Kakashi spoke bluntly, "The best thing for you three to do would be to get used to it for now."

"Tch," Sasuke scoffed in irritation.

"It might not be so bad," Kakashi commented, "You all aren't thinking about this the right way."

The three shot him absolutely incredulous looks, no doubt supplementing each other's feelings.

"What d'you mean?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"I think I'll let the three of you figure that out," Kakashi said, "By the end of the month, I imagine you'll probably understand what I mean. I'll find you later Sasuke. Until then, let's go Sakura." With that, the gray-haired ninja leapt to the trees.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried as she scrambled to catch up.

Naruto exhaled heavily as he watched the pair disappear. He had half-hoped that Kakashi would have found a solution to their problem, but apparently he didn't. It seemed more and more likely that a solution wouldn't be found. Fear suddenly jolted through his body as he realized they could be stuck like this forever.

"Dobe," Sasuke grit the single word out. The words 'are you okay?' still felt awkward on his tongue. If he could get his point across by other means he would do so readily.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto sighed, trying to erase the feeling.

The two sat silently for a few moments. It would be . . . odd, to be away from Sasuke and Sakura so long Naruto decided. They'd spent the last four days together constantly, and even beyond that, their regular missions ensured they saw each other often. Naruto knew he'd miss Sakura a lot. Sasuke could be okay sometimes on very rare occasion, so he'd maybe miss him a bit. Then again, with the link in place, he wondered if they would really be that far apart.

A thought suddenly struck Naruto.

"I wonder if the emotions won't be so strong when we get further away from each other," Naruto wondered aloud.

Sasuke turned towards his teammate with a hint of surprise. He hadn't considered such a possibility.

"Hopefully," Sasuke uttered, "Being tied to you to is the worst torture imaginable."

"Teme!"

"Don't you have training?" Sasuke asked, wanting Naruto to just leave already.

"Shut up," Naruto sniffed before a cheeky grin spread over his lips. "I'll see you at the finals!" His confidence swept over them.

"That idiot," Sasuke said to himself as the blond ran back towards the buildings. Despite his words, the smallest of smile spread over his lips. He'd be interested to see what the blond idiot managed to do in a month. He'd be nowhere near Sasuke's class, but Naruto would at least surprise him somehow.

* * *

The first thing Naruto did was go home and get back in his bed. He wasn't entirely sure it would work because it wasn't nighttime, but that shouldn't really affect it. Probably. It made sense . . . right?

He waited impatiently a few moments, trying to banish Sasuke and Sakura's emotions, (impatience and nervousness respectively,) and focus of his breathing. It took longer than he thought it would, but after fifteen minutes, he opened his eyes and saw the sherbet walls that were slowly becoming familiar. He glanced around until he saw a spot of green and navy lying on the floor.

"Hey, Dad!" He ran over.

The other ninja sat up, smile already forming on his lips.

"Naruto!" He accepted his son's outstretched hands to pull himself up. Minato patted down his cloak reflexively to get rid of the non-existent dust. "I wasn't expecting you back for a while, Naruto."

"Well, I wanted to ask you about training." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. He spent so much time explaining to his father what happened at the preliminaries last night that he forgot to tell him about his excellent idea.

"Training?"

"Yeah, for the final round." Naruto's grin was bursting. It still hadn't even sunk in all the way.

Minato smiled. "I'd love to give you a few hints of course Naruto, but I don't want to do too much or I'll get in the way of what Kakashi is going to teach you."

Naruto's expression soured. "Well he isn't training me for the third round. He's just gonna check in."

Minato blinked before realization hit him. "I almost forgot that all three of you passed."

"Yeah," Naruto said sullenly.

Minato put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. He wished he could get angry at Kakashi for not giving Naruto the attention he deserved, but he knew that there was sense in his decision. Kakashi had probably decided to train Sasuke. He was the only one who could teach him about the sharingan after all, so logically he would have to train the Uchiha. As all of them passed, he couldn't possible train all of them.

"I'm sure that the only reason he isn't training you is because he needs to help Sasuke, that's all."

Naruto shrugged. He understood, but it hurt being looked over like that.

"It'll be even better when he sees how much you've improved when he checks in." Minato gave a wide smile.

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered.

"Did he assign you a jonin sensei?" Minato asked.

"Well, I kinda asked him if I could train on my own for a while," Naruto said sheepishly.

Minato frowned lightly. "Of course I'll help you, Naruto. But wouldn't you like someone who can be there in person to guide you?"

"Nu-uh! I want you!" Naruto pressed, "'Sides, they'd start to ask questions about how I was learning other things they didn't teach me."

Naruto made a good point. He had a feeling that no matter if he had an official sensei or not, he'd draw attention to himself though. Minato needed to think of a good excuse for his son. For now, it surely wouldn't hurt to help Naruto perfect the basics. "Well, if you're sure—"

"Yatta!" Naruto crowed delightedly.

Minato couldn't help but smile. "If you change your mind, make sure to talk to Kakashi. It's important that you get as much help as you need," he said seriously.

"Yeah but you're like the greatest ninja ever!"

Minato flushed lightly and looked away. His son's unwavering belief in him always surprised him. He scratched his cheek awkwardly. "I'm glad you think so, but I know one day you'll surpass me."

Naruto's eyes were bright and full of awe and excitement.

"Are you ready?" Minato smiled.

* * *

Inoichi pulled away from the unconscious kunoichi's mind. He closed his eyes for a moment as he tried to organize his thoughts and arrange what he'd learned into the context they were working in. Despite his businesslike demeanor, he was couldn't help but look over at the pink-haired girl with concern. She was Ino's age, and once was very close to his little girl. The fact that it could have easily been Ino that was mixed up in all this strange business distressed him beyond words. Thankfully it hadn't though.

He glanced to the side and noticed Kakashi reenter the room. Inoichi sighed; he wished he had something more substantial to offer.

"Did you find anything?" the gray-haired nin asked, getting straight to the point.

"High level genjutsu, no doubt about it. One I haven't seen before. Perhaps it's an original invention or a protected village jutsu." He shook his head. "Anyways, I tried to follow the flow of her mind, but it moved around in loops, never letting me get too close to the memory. Really, an ingenious design," he admitted grudgingly.

"Did you see anything at all that could be a clue?" Kakashi pressed.

Inoichi hesitated. "It wasn't anything substantial, although . . ."

"Although?" Kakashi echoed.

"There was a reoccurring motif. I think it might be a leftover signature from the user of the jutsu. I couldn't understand it. It's a very basic glimpse, and the full picture is probably somewhere in there, but that would take a considerable amount of time, and would muddle her for a few days. I don't believe that would be the best option, all things considered."

The grey-haired jonin agreed with his comrade's conclusion. "What did it look like?"

Inoichi pulled a pad of paper and pen from the inner pocket of his cloak.

"I only got the shape but it was something like this." He proceeded to draw a long line and two smaller lines branching off near the bottom on both sides.

Kakashi stared at the image long and hard, trying to divine some larger image from it. His efforts were unsuccessful. Despite that, he tore the paper out of the book and tucked it in one of his various pockets anyways, just in case he needed it.

He gave Inoichi a nod before gathering the unconscious form of his student and flickering away in a storm of leaves. He alighted on one of the rooftops and began jumping through the village.

Sakura would probably wonder why she had been sleeping; he hadn't bothered to put a terribly strong genjutsu on her. He hmmed to himself as he paged through his expansive collection of excuses. Perhaps he'd tell her she ran into a telephone pole. That seemed like a pretty decent explanation.

* * *

Naruto fell into the water with a large splash for the twenty-seventh time since he'd started the exercise. He surfaced, frustration coursing through him.

"I never give up!" he reminded himself, "That's my nindo." Naruto pulled himself out of the water again and stared determinedly at the shifting surface. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands in a handseal and tried to gather his chakra like his dad explained to him. The oscillating currents of his chakra were hard to catch hold of. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and stepped forward confidently on the water . . . and fell straight through.

"Argh!" he shouted to no one in particular as he got back on solid ground. He stared mutinously at the water. A sudden flare of irritation filtered back to him, and he sighed sheepishly. He probably wasn't helping his teammates in their efforts to train. Still . . .

"I never give up," he repeated. Getting help wasn't really giving up though, right? He needed to talk to his dad again. When it was first explained to him it seemed simple enough, sort of like tree-walking. That had taken him a while, but eventually he'd gotten the hang of it. He thought waterwalking might be like that, but he hadn't improved in the slightest from his first try! It was way harder in real life! He grunted as he settled himself against a tree and willed himself to fall asleep.

Half an hour later he found a light doze and drifted back into the orange room. His father was lying on his back on the invisible floor.

"Dad, walking on water is way harder than you said it was!" He complained by way of greeting.

Minato blinked and sat up. "What do you mean?"

"My chakra won't focus."

Realization dawned on Minato as he got to his feet. "Or course, we never did get around to fixing the problem with your chakra," he said thoughtfully.

"If we fix it, does that mean I'll be able to do the water-walking exercise?" the younger blond queried.

"You'll have a much better time with it," Minato smiled.

"How do we fix it?" Naruto asked eagerly. He wanted to get the water-waking down pack so he could fight on the water like Kakashi-sensei could.

"We'll probably have to remove Orochimaru's seal," Minato murmured, more to himself than his son.

Naruto's face paled dramatically. "Won't that mean you'll go away?!"

"Ah," Minato exhaled, noting the unhappy expression on his son's face. "That might happen," he spoke honestly.

"Then no way!" Naruto exclaimed.

Minato's heart swelled at how much Naruto cared. But he couldn't allow his son to cripple himself.

"Naruto, how do you expect to be Hokage if you can't control your chakra?" he asked sternly.

The younger blond opened his mouth before closing it again. That wasn't a fair question at all. His gaze fell to the floor as he bit back tears of frustration. Why couldn't he just have both? Why did he have to pick one or the other?

"Maybe I could try and alter it so it stabilizes the flow of chakra but still ensures part of it flows through here. Could that work and still make sure the chakra goes in the right direction?" he asked himself. The mechanics seemed to make sense, but he needed to theorize much further to create a solid hypothesis.

Naruto looked up hopefully.

"It's worth a shot, but I can't make any promises," he said warningly.

"What do we do?" Naruto asked attentively, ready to do whatever his father needed.

"Let me think about it for a while," Minato said, knowing it would take quite a while for him to contemplate the matter. "For now, let's get back to your training."

Naruto made a face but let it go. He wanted as much time as he could get, and if it was going to end soon, then he wouldn't waste a second. He brushed away the slight wetness in his eyes and the terrible thoughts away for the moment.

"Since water-walking is out of the question at the moment, as well as a lot of other things, why don't we work on your taijutsu?" Minato asked.

Naruto nodded, a little disappointed they couldn't get started on the chakra stuff right away. His father promised that if he learned to walk on water he'd show Naruto a new jutsu, but he supposed it would just have to wait. Taijutsu would be cool too.

"The style I'm about to show you is something I developed myself," Minato began. He slowly worked his way through a basic kata.

Naruto's eyes were already widening in excitement. After a showing him a few more motions so that Naruto had a taste of what was to come, he stopped and walked around his son analytically.

"It's designed to be very quick." Minato hmmed to himself, making Naruto fidget under his intense gaze. "Well, you're broader that I am, so we might have to make adjustments to it."

"But it'll work right?" Naruto pressed.

"It should," he smiled, "You'll have to work to make your body faster and more flexible though. Some training weights might be a good idea."

"Like Bushy Brows?" Naruto asked, remembering what Gai had said about Lee.

"Bushy—?" Minato got it after a minute, "If you mean Gai, then yes, something like that, but much lighter. He's a bit overzealous."

"He's got a clone my age named Rock Lee," Naruto informed Minato, who remembered hearing a lot about him from the previous evening.

"Why can't I do 'em like bushy brows?" Naruto asked, a whiny tone entering his voice.

"Because, if you build too much muscle you won't be as flexible. Gai may be very fast, he isn't limber, which makes the style obsolete. You'll have to reach that speed gradually," Minato explained shortly. He reassessed his son and thought about what the previous brawler style was like. "If you want to go with a taijutsu form, that focuses on more strength, we can look into another style, it isn't a big d—"

"No! I wanna do yours!" Naruto shouted effectively cutting Minato off. The older ninja smiled, before nodding.

"Alright, then I'll teach you a few exercises to make yourself more limber. If might take a little time, but if you do them every day, it'll pay off."

Naruto nodded steadfastly. His father smiled.

"Let's begin, shall we?"

* * *

Naruto met with Kakashi the next day by the bridge they normally met at as a team. Kakashi was typically late, so Naruto took the time to attempt water-walking again. Perhaps if he could prove to his father that he could control his chakra perfectly, then there would be no need for his father to have to mess with the seal. Unfortunately, he hadn't improved overnight. A couple hours later Kakashi arrived and looked at his sopping student with a smile.

"I guess I don't need to ask what you've been working on these past couple days."

"Water-walking is hard," Naruto muttered, a dour expression on his face. His chakra control still sucked, despite how he tried to tame it. His frustration was only worsened by the fact that it could mean the end of his brief relationship with his father . . . if only he wasn't so bad at it!

Kakashi, ignorant of the raging thoughts in his student's mind, smiled before he walked over and demonstrated for Naruto.

"It's important to keep the stream of chakra steady first, and then adjusting to the flow."

Naruto made a face, "I know, I know, it's just hard to get the amount right," he said flopping on the ground against one of the bridge's posts.

Kakashi blinked, "Of course, when you're carrying extra weight, that certainly doesn't help," he said gesturing to Naruto's ankle weights which were showing from below his orange floods.

"Cool right?" Naruto said with a grin.

"When did you get those?" Kakashi asked with a raised brow.

"Yesterday. Tenten gave me a good deal. She's actually pretty cool." A little mean like Sakura could be, but nonetheless she did give him a good deal.

"Taking Gai's approach?"

"No way!" Naruto said, forming an 'x' with his hands. "His are waay too heavy." Naruto had tracked down the Gai and Lee when they were passing by on a run through the village. On their hands. He asked the enthusiastic jonin about the training weights and received a stunning grin for his trouble. Gai let him see what the ankle weights looked like and even took them off so Naruto could hold them and look more closely.

He almost lost a hand.

"I'm just doing twenty pound ones."

Kakashi nodded, those were undoubtedly below Gai's range. He leaned against the red wood of the bridge.

"Are you going to work your way up?"

"Yeah, maybe a bit higher, but I don't wanna get too muscle-y 'cause then I won't be fast and flexible." Naruto replied.

Naruto's sage tone caught Kakashi off-guard and brought a smile to his face. His student's awareness surprised him. He thought Naruto was the type to get the heaviest weight possible to get stronger sooner rather than later. With his regenerative capabilities, he probably could have gotten away with some rather ridiculously heavy weights.

"Is that the style you're focusing on then?" Kakashi asked, receiving a nod, "I would have thought you'd go for a more heavy-hitting style. Do you want me to show you one I kn—"

"No! I'm sticking with fast!" he burst. Kakashi was momentarily taken aback by the proclamation, but let it go. Typical. When Naruto got an idea on his head, he tended to stick to it, no matter what anyone else said. He'd have to change his own mind, no one could try and do it for him. Though Kakashi was curious as to who had inspired Naruto to do the quick style. Naruto usually took got ideas from what he saw.

"Do you know any kata yet?" Kakashi asked.

"No, I'm just working on speed and flexibility first," he said stretching as he spoke.

Kakashi nodded his head. Once more surprised by the patience his student appeared to have. He would have expected Naruto to jump right into it instead of improving his core. Perhaps he had underestimated him. He was beginning to show the signs of a developing maturity— at least in how he decided to train. Perhaps Naruto had picked up reading as a hobby.

"It's a good idea." Kakashi agreed.

"Ne . . ." Naruto began.

"Hm?" Kakashi asked.

"How long have you kept Sasuke waiting?"

Kakashi blinked, he hadn't really been keeping track this time. He looked up at the position of the sun. By his estimate, he had left Sasuke waiting for just over three hours.

"Can you feel his impatience?"

Naruto nodded, looking away. It was still weird to talk about out loud.

"You don't seem terribly impatient though," Kakashi observed.

The _jinchuuriki _blinked. "I guess it's gotten easier to resist being pulled in, ya know?"

"Do you think that has to do with the distance?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke was the furthest from his other two genin, training atop a plateau a little ways from the village. While they weren't entirely aware of Orochimaru's intentions towards the boy in light of the confusing addition to the seal, it was safe to assume they were mal-intended. Thus dragging Sasuke away from Konohagakure had been the decision of the Hokage. Seeing as the Uchiha was miles away on a plateau, if Naruto were to something different about the bond it would be about Sasuke.

Naruto thought about it for a few moments before shaking his head. "No, I still feel 'em just the same, it's just easier to resist them I guess. If they're really strong though I get caught up it."

Kakashi hmmed. So the three were only adjusting to it; the distance wasn't a factor. After observing Sasuke, it was clear that the emotions were still hitting him, but they didn't seem to bother him as much. He supposed now he knew why. How disappointing. He'd rather hoped it would have been something else.

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, it's getting pretty bad," Naruto said, sounding a little tenser.

Kakashi sighed. He supposed he could go over now.

"Well, it seems like you're in a good place in your training," Kakashi said, moving away from the bridge. "Keep conditioning and I'll check up on you on Saturday."

Naruto nodded, smiling at the praise.

Then again, Kakashi thought, it was still a bit early, perhaps he should visit Rin and Obito. The gray-haired jonin leapt away from his blond genin, and towards the memorial stone. One more hour wouldn't kill Sasuke. If anything else, it would teach him patience.

* * *

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**Thanks for reading!**

**About Naruto learning his father's style . . . even though Naruto is a bad ass bitch, he is not going to learn this over night. This will take him years to get, and even then, it won't be perfect. Minato views this as a long term investment. So no super!Naruto, just hard-working!Naruto.**

**Again, there is a poll for pairings. Both het and slash. If you want to see one or the other or none, you best vote! The relationships will never be sexual though. The poll should be up now . . . if not, wait and come back maybe?**

**Please direct any feels, questions, or thoughts to the review box :)**


	6. It's All in Your Head

**Another new chapter! Thanks for all the support and love~ Those lovely reviewers being . . .**

**Darius- Federal CTU Agent, Lamelinam, midnighthaunting12, SupernaturalHearts, Tsukiyo69, KK, MantaCat, butterflypuss, Illucida, ytygr, Taku94, duchessliz, Sumeri, Asalea, Link0011, Mearn-Tahl, Sevvus, QVQ, piccolaNaruto18, gore23**

**Much love! We have a chance of making 100 sometimes soon, which would make me so happy! Update on the poll at the end.**

* * *

_Chapter: It's All in Your Head_

* * *

Minato paced on the orange-ish pink room he occupied in his son's mind. He walked for several minutes one way before heading back. He never knew if he was pacing evenly because there were no markers in this place, just never ending sherbet in every direction. He had a very poor concept of time as well. It used to be easier to keep track of when he caught glimpses of Naruto's life, but since Orochimaru had placed the seal, he hadn't seen a single glimpse of the outside world. Having his son here with him was an excellent tradeoff. But that was the whole reason behind why he was pacing to begin with.

After much thought, many concerns, and recurring second guessing, he had arrived at several conclusions in regards to the seal. He stopped for a moment before he turned and began walking back the way he'd come.

It was utterly vital to Naruto's future that he regain control of his chakra. He had been lucky that there hadn't been more fighting after the preliminaries. On the surface, it might have seemed like the difference in Naruto's control was negligible, but looking deeper, Minato saw a gaping whole. The constant fluxuation was incredibly inconvenient when his son was trying to do a jutsu. Sometimes it gather too little, but more often it than not it gathered far too much. His son's colossal chakra reserve helped cover the problematic situation, but if he wanted to go against heavy-hitting ninja like Neji and Gaara, he would need every advantage and resource to beat them.

Minato knew that he had to undo the seal. He sighted before he turned around and began pacing the other direction.

The safest thing for him to do would be to remove the entire seal. Logically, it would undo all of the basic blocks Orochimaru had placed in his son's chakra system that changed the flow. Doing so would unquestionably end their all-too-short reunion. The thought made Minato's heart hurt, but the thought of impeding Naruto as he chased after his dreams made it hurt more. He certainly needed to do _something_.

He bit his lip and turned back.

Minato knew that he helped his son. He'd felt the loneliness from years of solidarity, and felt the joy Naruto felt from finally having someone to rely on. Already he'd helped Naruto figure things out and given him tools to improve himself. He believed that if he were able to help him further Naruto would only bloom more—towards his dream. Leaving his son again wouldn't just hurt Minato though, Naruto would be the one who would suffer most. His son would be alone . . . again.

But were his desires clouding his judgment? Minato ran a hand through his hair. He had no clue he realized as he slowed. He decided to walk back. Therein lay the struggle; on one hand, he could remove the five point seal, ensuring Naruto would have a better go at his dreams, and yet make him lose a parent, again. On the other hand, Minato could try a completely experimental seal, designed to create more blocks that theoretically would straighten his circulatory system again, but reverse the flow of chakra. Minato wondered if there would be any negative side effects . . . Theoretically, the difference in flow shouldn't have been terribly different, but he doubted anything like this had been done before . . .

He shook the thoughts from his mind. That was relatively irrelevant when it came to other matters. The largest problem with the second option was that it was all theoretical. He was operating in unknown territory. What if the seal he tried failed to correct Naruto's chakra flow, and merely cut Minato off from the supply? Not only would Naruto lose on both fronts, but if Minato no longer had access, he couldn't take action to repair it.

Letting out a frustrated cry, Minato plopped on the floor, sick of pacing and pacing and never getting anywhere.

He figured that he didn't have much more time until Naruto arrived. That meant he needed to make up his mind. Did the value of a stable relationship in his son's life outweigh the value of a necessary part of a ninja's toolbox? Minato had mulled this over from the very beginning. Naruto had made other relationships in his life, some that were solid. The Sandaime he viewed as a Grandfather, and Iruka was his first truly precious person. He also had his two teammates and Kakashi of course. None of the relationships were tremendously close, but few started out that way. They needed to grow. Perhaps Minato was a replaceable variable in his son's life . . . but at this very moment, he so badly wanted for his son to have a stable base, and for him to be that stable base. Someone who remained a constant in his universe as his son explored his identity and began to assemble his future. Perhaps it was selfish of him to wish that _he _could be that base, but he couldn't help but want to be the rock in his son's life. That's what parents were for, weren't they? He was an orphan, so he was acting mostly on instinct. It served him well so far. All he ever wanted to do was ensure Naruto's happiness, and with that in mind, he'd been able to make the right choices so far.

The one before him was just much tougher than usual.

"Dad!" Minato looked over to find the figure of his son heading his way. Apparently he'd wandered off the invisible center of the room.

"Dad, I totally got the first kata down. I'm getting really good at it, and the weights don't bother me much anymore at all!"

"Naruto . . ." Minato began.

His son's smile faded in the face of his father's serious demeanor.

"What is it?"

"I need to make a decision about the seal," he spoke weightily.

Naruto swallowed, finding his words had left him again. He'd known it was coming, but that didn't make it any easier to accept. He wished he could keep putting it off. It was so easy to carry on like they did, ignoring the problem in front of them. Secretly, the blond genin had hoped that maybe his father would forget . . . Naruto supposed he should have known it could have lasted.

"I need to choose whether we try the experimental seal I made, or the regular five prong seal to cancel out the preexisting one," Minato said.

"So you did make another one?" Naruto asked, hope glimmered in his eyes.

"I drafted one, but I really don't know if it will work or not." His tone was stern.

"But there's a chance?" Naruto wasn't dissuaded.

"Yes," Minato sighed, "but the risk of it backfiring might be too much."

"Huh?"

"If I do it and it doesn't fix your problem with control, but still redirects the chakra away from me, I won't be able to fix it," he spoke solemnly.

Naruto's face dropped to the floor as he thought long and hard about his father's words.

"Well, you said Kakashi-sensei and Oyaji knew stuff about seals, couldn't they fix it then?"

Minato hadn't considered the possibility before. His work was infamous for being hard to figure out and even harder to reverse. Perhaps he was underestimating his student though. The Sandaime knowledge of fuuinjutsu was very dated, so he doubted that he could help, but at the very least the Third would know how to contact Jiraiya if Kakashi didn't know. Then again, his sensei might have died sometime in the last twelve years. It would explain the conspicuous absence in his godson's life.

"Maybe . . ." he said at length. Could he take that chance?

"Well, it's my body so I get a say in it, don't I?" Naruto demanded.

Minato was taken aback by his son's brash words before he smiled. He had gotten so wrapped up in making a decision he forgot the most important place to get input.

"Yes, yes you do," Minato acknowledged.

"I say that we try the other seal."

Minato's brow furrowed. He wasn't sure if he could go along with this despite how much his heart wanted him too. He felt guilty for wanting to use the experimental one when it might be a risk his son, but being able to spend time with him was so beyond what he'd expected. He hoped that he wasn't influencing the choice Naruto made subconsciously.

"Alright Naruto, we'll try the other seal," he said wearily.

"Yes!"

"Just I case it doesn't work," Minto said, loathing the sudden misery on his son's face, "I want you to continue your training. Tell Kakashi that you want to learn my style. He'll help you learn the rest. Train hard, and promise me that you won't be bound by anything." Minato received an odd look for his words. "If you want to quit the style, then do it. I want you to be free to make your own decisions without my input."

Naruto's expression had somehow worsened.

The Yondaime pushed forward anyway. "Are you ready?"

"No," Naruto uttered honestly.

"Me neither," Minato replied with a sad smile. "But we have to do something."

"Can't we put it off?" Naruto asked, a desperate tone in his voice.

"Until when?" Minato asked rhetorically. "Until the eve of the third round? Until your first mission as chunin?" He rubbed his head. "I don't think I'll ever be ready to say goodbye Naruto, but it's something we have to do."

"Don't say that!" Naruto reacted suddenly, "I don't wanna hear you talking about saying goodbye. You can't think like that!" His face was frustrated and upset.

"I know." Minato sighed before he walked over to his son and pulled him into a hug. Faint trembles ran over his son's body and Minato wished he could stop them by his presence alone. He had a feeling though that the shaking wouldn't stop until the entire thing was over.

It was Naruto who pulled away first, looking weary and resigned. "How does this work?" Naruto asked.

"Close your eyes," Minato instructed. Naruto obeyed. "I want you to imagine yourself falling through the air. Falling into a deep part of your mind . . ."

Naruto's brow furrowed as he tried to do as his father directed.

"Well, that worked out rather quickly," his father remarked. Naruto opened his eyes and found himself standing in a dark sewer. Water came up to his mid-calf, though oddly, he didn't feel wet at all.

"How'd I do that?" Naruto asked, his mouth open as he stared at the strange concrete room.

"Your mind follows you commands; you just have to think it."

Naruto nodded, and the two blonds began walking down the large halls.

"So I can do anything here?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Essentially, yes." Minato smiled.

Naruto returned it for a brief few seconds before he spied a room ahead. The only room he'd seen in the entire sewer. He wandered closer curiously.

His father placed a hand on his shoulder, halting his progress. He then moved ahead of Naruto, walking boldly into the room. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a large cage, bars brown with rust. The only thing that could hold was—

"Namikaze," a deep voice rumbled, "I never expected to see you again."

"That goes for me as well."

His father's voice was harder than Naruto had ever heard before. He fought the urge to step back as killing intent began to fill the room.

"Though I hate seeing you, I'm here because I have a job to do." Minato's voice was impeccably calm.

"Are you talking about the dismal state of the brat's chakra system?" the demon queried

"Yes."

"Fix it. It makes things difficult for me. I don't get as much energy," the Kyuubi said aloofly. Naruto froze as the demon stepped out of the shadows slowly and into the dim flickering light. When the fox came fully in the light, his snout shot forward, hitting against the cage loudly. "And I need as much as I can to eat your little child." Harsh barking laughter filled the corridor.

Naruto shivered violently, but his father placed a hand on his shoulder, all the while never breaking eye contact with the Kyuubi.

"You will never get that opportunity," Minato promised. It belatedly struck Naruto that his father's voice never wavered from the strong, though calm tone, never showing a reaction to the Kyuubi's words. Naruto wondered how it was possible for any human to do so in the face of such a powerful creature.

"Naruto, please try and imagine a brush and an ink pot in your hands." His father's eyes didn't turn from the Kyuubi's a single second. With a bit of concentration, Naruto managed to do so. He felt momentarily surprised how easily it came to him before he passed it to his father. Minato gave his child a long, complex look that Naruto couldn't decipher. Before he could ask, the Yondaime began to walk up the bars of the cage towards the center which Naruto belatedly realized had a large piece of paper on it. The kanji said, 'seal,' if he was reading it right.

Minato crouched near the paper, ignoring the Kyuubi's tongue that ran up and down the bars beside him. He placed a hand over the seal and sent chakra into the paper. All of a sudden, the kanji shifted into a familiar set of swirls that were found on Naruto's stomach. The blond teen blinked with surprise. Though as he squinted, he realized that it wasn't exactly right. On the outer edges, there were five additional spirals that Naruto had never seen before.

Minato carefully placed the jar on ink on his leg before dipping his brush and beginning.

Naruto watched in amazement, craning his neck to get a better look, as his father quickly began adding to the seal. He drew five additional seals in the gaps between the other five Orochimaru had added. He dipped in the ink again before he carefully began tracing around it, connecting the ends of the five spirals the sannin had added to his own five spirals in a counterclockwise direction. At the end, he drew a strange shape Naruto had never seen before above his work.

"Naruto . . ." Minato trailed off. There was so much he wanted to say, but his mind was empty.

"Why don't you get what you want?" Naruto asked suddenly, "Why can't you stay here with me? You like it don't you?" He hoped he was right about that.

"Naruto, you don't know what I would give to be able to see you and talk to you every day. But I can't do that at your risk. I can't get in the way of your dreams." His voice was resolute but his face softened into a smile. "Besides, helping you achieve your dreams is my dream."

Naruto's lip wobbled at the words. No one ever felt that way about him before.

Since meeting his father, he'd struggled figuring out what having a dad actually meant. He'd enjoyed running over new corners and edges of it and getting to know this strange new adult who was going to teach him how to be Hokage, this funny man who laughed and cared so completely about him. But other adults were nice too. The Third was kind to him, even when he messed up. Iruka treated him like a little brother, teasing, but caring. Though Kakashi hadn't been around as long, he still taught Naruto ninja skills. But at that moment, he finally understood what set his father so far apart from every other adult, every teacher, every other kind person. Because Minato put Naruto first in every way.

This was the love of a parent, he realized. And in that moment it just made it so much harder to accept what was going on.

"Dad . . ."

"Besides, it should work," Minato said, trying to keep his voice firm.

"So much drama." A deep growl drawled from behind the cage. Both blonds ignored it.

"It's just—" Naruto stared at the water covered floor "I don't wanna have to say goodbye! So don't! Don't say goodbye okay?"

"Don't worry Naruto, I won't say goodbye." Naruto looked up towards his father with shock, who merely smiled and continued. "I love you, son."

Naruto opened his mouth, but before he could reply, Minato slammed his hand over the augmented seal, and light filled the room. The brightness covered Naruto's sight as the light slowly faded back into black.

"Dad?!" Naruto cried out into the sewer, hearing his voice echo back. The place where his father previously knelt was empty. He looked around desperately, hoping to find something, anything.

A low laugh grew in the room. "Well, I think that went well. Chakra's returned and that nuisance is gone. And you, are all alone." Kyuubi's smile was toothy.

Dread filled his stomach as Naruto realized the truth in the words. Again he was alone. Alone, alone, alone, alone, splash, alone.

Wait, splash?

"Naruto?!" a voice called out from the dark, splashes echoing closer and closer.

"Dad!" Naruto scrambled as he turned all the way around searchingly. All he saw was the fox with a disgusted expression on its face before it moved away from the front of the cage back into the shadows.

A figure appeared at the entrance of the room, slowing from a run, and smiling lightly when he spied his son.

"Naruto," he said, in that firm and loving way he always did.

"D-dad!' Naruto threw himself at his father, clutching his robe like a child. He didn't care how it looked, all he knew was that he wasn't alone. No, he had a father. He had a father and he had a family. Knowing for the first time what that actually meant transformed his entire view.

"Oh Naruto," Minato spoke into is son's blond hair. He hadn't realized just how badly he wanted their plan to work until the moment when he saw his son again.

"I thought you were gone!"

"I . . . I thought so too," Minato admitted. "After we activated the seal, I appeared back in the orange room. I had to find my way back here. I'm sorry I left you alone. I'm here now though. I'm here."

That last sentence made Naruto finally give in and cry. It was going to be alright. He wasn't going to be left alone, and he wasn't going to go back to being the unclaimed orphan everyone else saw him as. Naruto didn't care what they thought though, because right now he knew so much better.

After some time of Minato whispering soft comforting things to his son, Naruto calmed down enough to go back to the room.

His father tried to get him to talk a little bit about what he done that day. Naruto's heart wasn't in it. His fear was still there, it hadn't dissipated. If anything he was almost tenser, afraid to let his dad leave his sights because if he closed his eyes, that he might be gone again. Inevitably, the walls began to fill with bright light.

"Dad," Naruto felt an echo from the first time they met. The same concern about leaving. '_Will you be here when I come back?'_ He thought worriedly to himself

"Don't worry," Minato said, smiling.

Naruto bit his lip but nodded, putting on a brave face as his vision was swallowed in the sea of white.

Naruto opened his eyes for a few moments, noticing the familiar sheets around him and the bright sunlight. He groaned as he rolled out of bed, tiredly rubbing his eyes. He glanced towards the bed resisting the urge to go back to sleep just to make sure his father was still there. Naruto felt like he was getting pretty clingy. These were kind of extenuating circumstances though . . . maybe he'd take a nap during the day.

"_Huh, that's weird."_

The blond ninja jumped two feet into the air as his head whipped around frantically. Where the hell did that come from?

"_I didn't think the reversed flow would mean I'd be able to view the outside world. Not a bad surprise at all."_

What the hell . . . ? Was there someone in his room?

_ "That is if Naruto's flow is corrected. Hopefully he'll attempt water-walking today so I can find out. Ah, I have to explain to him that I can see everything now. It's kind of weird, I feel like I'm stalking him or something."_

Naruto listened dumbfounded at the rambling sentences. His eyes grew wider and wider. That voice sounded familiar, a lot like—

"D-dad!?"

_"What is he—? I hope he isn't worried that I'm gone, I'm still here of course. Hmm, I wish there was a way to let him know sooner rather than later. I don't want him to worry. Maybe he'll take a nap sometime today. I shouldn't be so clingy tho—"_

"I know you're still with me! I can hear you!" Naruto exclaimed.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"_. . . Is he talking to me?"_

"Yes I'm talking to you!"

"_Naruto?"_

_"_Dad?"

_"Can he— are you hearing me right now Naruto?!"_

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed. "What the hell is going on?!"

Naruto could practically hear his father pacing as he thought. It was perhaps the strangest sensation Naruto had felt in his thirteen years of life.

"_The seal's purpose was to repair your circulatory system so that all the chakra flowed one direction."_

"Right . . ." Naruto didn't understand where any of this was going.

"_Instead of removing the blocks that redirected the flow in all directions, I attempted to instead build on them." _He stopped suddenly for a moment. "_Naruto, can you try to walk on the walls?"_

The situation was getting weirder by the second, but Naruto agreed. He swallowed a little as he carefully channeled chakra to his feet, and placed his left foot on the wall. He exhaled as he was able to move up and around the wall perfectly.

"_So the flow HAS been corrected . . ." _Minato trailed off. _ "So at least it worked." _Relief flooded the Yondaime. Correcting Naruto's system had been the top priority. "_But why are things like this? Perhaps it has to do with the frontal lobe because he is interacting— then again, the temporal lobe registers speech if he's hearing me then— Of course the chakra gates that run through those are all—But the chance of that affecting the part of his brain that controls—"_

Hypotheses swirled in the air, making Naruto dizzy. The speed his father's mind moved at was ridiculous. Possibilities were created, reshaped and then discarded in seconds as his father looked for answers.

"Ahh! You're making me dizzy!" Naruto exclaimed, clutching his head. Trying to follow even one of the trains of thoughts was impossible!

There was a pause in the flow.

"_Can Naruto hear all my thoughts?"_

_"_Yes, I can!"

Minato concentrated for a few moments.

"_Did you hear that?"_

"What?"

Naruto could feel his father smile. "_Never mind, I found a way to keep my thoughts separate. Sorry about that."_

"Urk, well I guess it's fine, you know?" Naruto fumbled with his words. What the hell was going on? Was he still dreaming or something. Everything was silent though, instead of the constant stream of theoretical chatter that occupied his mind so suddenly which was a relief. It just wasn't natural for anyone to think that fast!

"_I've just been around a long time, Naruto." _He felt like his father was scratching his head. "_Besides it helps when your essence is pure chakra mixed with subconscious."_

"H—hey! Don't listen to my thoughts!"

"_Gomen, gomen, it wasn't on purpose, honestly."_

"Well, just don't do it." Naruto pouted.

"_Let me see if I can move to a different area of your . . ."_

Naruto waited for the end of that sentence, but was disappointed. He sniffed.

"Geez, at least let me know what you're gonna do since you're running around in my mind!" Naruto said with a disgruntled expression.

There was no reply.

"Dad?" he asked, waiting for a response. The silence persisted and he found the sudden and conspicuous absence of his father unsettling.

"Dad?!" his voice took on a nervous edge. Why wasn't he replying?

"Dad!" He screamed, hoping for a sign, for anything to prove he was still there.

"_Yes, yes, I'm here,"_ Minato said, coming back into Naruto's awareness.

Naruto though he was going to pass out from relief. "I thought you like died or something," he sighed. "I mean, again, like forever." Naruto clarified. His father laughed at his interpretation.

"_No I'm alive and kicking, relatively speaking." _He smiled.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, "Where'd you go?"

"_Well, I was checking to see if I could move my conscious to a different part of your mind. I don't want to be sitting on your thoughts all the time!_"

It suddenly struck Naruto how awful and terrible that would be especially if he was thinking of awkward and embarrassing things like porn or Sakura or his sexy-no-jutsu or that time he kissed Sasuke or . . . Damnit! Naruto's brain fizzled. He was thinking about all those things now!

"You aren't listening now, are you?!" Naruto asked, in a panicked voice.

"_No,"_ Minato chuckled, "_I moved to a different place in your mind. I mean I could grab your train of thoughts as it passes, I mean, but I would rather you have your privacy."_

Naruto breathed out in relief. "Me too." He paused. "What do you mean by grabbing my thoughts?"

"_Uhh, it's hard to explain . . ."_ He turned thoughtful, "_I wonder if I'll be able to show you sometime . . ."_

"Did you figure out what's going on then?"

"_Well I have a working theory by this point."_

"What is it?"

"_Well, in order to repair your system while keeping Orochimaru's seals in place, I created five more and then connected them. They run in the opposite of your natural direction. The purpose was to use those ten blocks in the seal as new markers where your chakra would center. Then it was a matter of connecting them all to start moving your chakra in one direction. Thus creating a new chakra system," _Minato finished.

"Huh?" Naruto uttered in complete confusion.

_"I essentially reversed the flow of your chakra while preserving the flow to where I reside."_ The Yondaime frowned. "_If I'm guessing right, instead of pulling your chakra down towards me like before, it's inverted so that my chakra is moving up."_

_"_What does that mean?"

_"Instead of your subconscious being brought down to me, I'm being brought to yours instead,"_ Minato simplified.

"You're kidding?!"

"_I don't think so . . ." _Minato sighed. "_I don't know if it'll hold, but logically it seems to make sense. I need to work on this theory more . . ."_ He paused suddenly.

"_Hey, Naruto . . ."_

"What's wrong?" the genin asked, apprehensively. Whenever he heard that tone from his father, it generally wasn't for a good reason.

"_I don't know how to stop the connection without undoing the whole thing, or at least eliminating myself from the loop."_

_"_What!? Eliminate yourself?" Naruto echoed incredulously.

"_I could just remove all ten parts of the seal and make everything the way it was before Orochimaru hit him . . ." _He thought, accidently forgetting to keep the stream from Naruto's consciousness.

_"_Stop that, seriously!" Naruto cried. "Just— just stop, okay?"

Minato paused in his thoughts while he waited for Naruto to compose his own.

"So you're saying that you're in my mind and stuff?"

"_Yes."_

"You can hear and see everything?"

"_Essentially."_

_"_And talk to me?"

_"What do you think?"_ Minato's tone was slightly amused.

"So you can like work with me while I'm training and stuff, right?!"

" _I . . . Yes, I suppose I can."_ Minato mused aloud thoughtfully.

"That's awesome!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. "So cool! We're gonna get so much stuff done! I dunno why you have to undo it. This seems pretty neat to me."

"_Well . . ."_ Minato trailed off. He didn't have a solution to the problem that didn't involve removing himself. The largest problem— the disjointed chakra flow— had been repaired. In addition, his son did make a point; this would be a huge step up in Naruto's training. This obviously wasn't an ideal situation, but he needed to brainstorm before he tried something else.

Minato couldn't let this be permanent, he knew that. This wasn't healthy. But for the moment . . .

_"I'd love to help, Naruto."_

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Naruto shouted as he scrambled to get his clothes on over his boxers. The weights went on next and his hands kept fumbling over the straps in his haste. Finally all put together, he stood and left his bedroom.

"_Don't forget breakfast!" _Minato urged.

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto replied impatiently, grabbing an apple and eating it in four large bites. He wanted to get out of here as fast as he could so they could get training. Ah he needed to go to the bathroom before he left.

His hand froze on the knob of the door to go to the bathroom.

"Dad?"

_"Yes?"_

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"_Ahh,_" Minato thought to himself, realizing why his child sounded so uncomfortable. This was a weird situation. Aloud, he said, "_I'll just go to another part of your mind alright?"_

"You promise you won't peek?" Naruto asked petulantly.

"_N-N-Naruto!" _His father sputtered, utterly mortified. "_That's—"_

"Okay, okay," Naruto said squirming, "just go already!"

Minato immediately turned away before using his new found mobility to move away from the front of his son's mind and back into his regular orange and pink room.

"Honestly, that kid!" He murmured, shaking his head. To distract himself, Minato brought forth the seal in his mind to mull over. Was it even possible that consciousness could be carried along a chakra flow? When Naruto first arrived here it seemed like a complete and total trick of fate. Minato didn't look too heavily into the possibility, but faced with another proof, it seemed more and more plausible. The Yamanaka's jutsu worked in a similar way, he supposed. The ability to do so was supposed to be a blood-trait singular to their clan and only passed down by the male. Naruto wasn't a part of the clan though. There was also the question as to why Naruto only arrived when he was sleeping and Minato seemed to have full range. Then again, as he had told Naruto before, being only chakra and a manifestation of consciousness, it might explain why he suddenly had total access. By changing the entrance points of his chakra and placing one where he resided, it mean he could more or less move through Naruto's entire chakra system.

How . . . neat.

Minato had to admit that the entire matter was rather fascinating. Knowledge was always something he'd sought. Even after he technically died, he still enjoyed finding out new things.

"Dad? Dad?! DAD?!"

Minato peeked at his son's subconscious and saw him standing impatiently.

"_Yes?" _He asked as he moved back towards the front of his son's mind.

"There you are!" Naruto said. Minato laughed as he realized son was waiting for him by the door, as though Naruto had to wait for him before leaving. "C'mon, let's go!" Without another word he stepped into the streets, closing the door loudly behind him.

Naruto was jumping quickly through the village, trying to get to the training area as fast as he could. His mind was already running through countless of awesome jutsu his father could teach him. Minato on the other hand, was relishing the view, eagerly taking in every detail of his beloved village.

"_Ah, the village has changed a lot since I died," _Minato thought mostly to himself

"They had to rebuild a lot after the fox." Naruto repeated the rote answer as he leapt off of a red rooftop. The Yondaime realized he needed practice keeping his inner monologue different from his outer. It was harder than he thought, but considering he had no mouth, he could probably cut himself some slack.

"_That makes sense. I know the fox got the middle part of the village quite badly, but some things are still here though. I wonder if they rebuilt in the same place."_

"Really? Like what?"

"_Well, the Yamanaka flower shop. The Inoichi's have been horticulturists since the founding of the clan."_

"Horutickultrurists?" He repeated, stumbling over the unusual word.

"_Horticulturists._ _They study flowers."_

"Eh? Why would the Yamanakas do that?" Naruto asked curiously as he avoided a flock of pigeons.

"_Inoichi once told me that it was because when they went mind-walking into people's psyches, personality traits generally manifest as flowers."_

"What? How come?"

"_No one really knows," _Minato replied, "_Though some have theorized that it has more to do with how we perceive people."_

_"_What?"

_"Ah, nevermind, maybe I'll explain it to you later."_ Minato figured this was an explanation for later. As in a few years in the future when his son understood a little more about psychology and perception. It was a little heavy for a thirteen-year-old

"Is that why Ino knows so much stuff about flowers?"

"_Ino? Ah, his daughter, I remember now. Well, it's something all Yamanaka's must learn. Not all have flower shops though. Inoichi just found a way to capitalize on his knowledge."_

"That's smart," Naruto said nodding to himself.

"_Maybe you should ask his daughter about the flowers sometime."_

"Eh?" Naruto was so surprised by the strange suggestion that he almost lost his footing on the telephone wire. He straightened himself quickly to avoid electrocution.

"_A Hokage should know a little of everything."_

"Is that so?" Naruto murmured to himself as he stood on the wire.

"Is what so?" a voice asked, startling Naruto so badly he almost fell off the wire a second time.

"Aw, geez Shikamaru, don't scare me like that." Naruto said before jumping down. Shikamaru and Ino were standing behind him in the dirt street. Ino raised a brow whereas Shikamaru just eyed him uninterestedly.

"Why are you talking to yourself?" Ino asked.

"Uhh . . . I just say stuff aloud sometimes," Naruto said weakly.

"_Ooops,"_ Minato hmmed, "_We should do something about that."_

"Seriously," Naruto muttered quietly.

"What?" Ino asked, staring at him pointedly.

Minato decided to stay silent and save his son some trouble.

"Uh, nothing."

"God, you're so weird Naruto!" Ino exclaimed. "I don't know how forehead puts up with you!"

"What are you doing Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, shifting the conversation.

"I'm heading out to train," he answered with a cocky smile. "Is that where you're going too?"

"Nah, we're going to visit Choji in the hospital," Shikamaru replied.

"Is he still in there?" Naruto asked in surprise, "I know Sakura got him, but I didn't know it was that bad!"

"He's already out," Ino said scoffing, "No way Forehead could get him so bad they'd have to lay him up in a hospital for a week."

"Then why—"

"The explosive tags Sakura used gave him some burns." Shikamaru explained. "They're bandaged and healing, they just wanted to follow up. We're meeting him there so then we can all find Asuma."

"And train Shikamaru!" Ino informed him. "You better be prepared for him! He's going to blow all the competition away," she said in a superior tone. Ino then turned on her heel and began walking away, ponytail swishing in the air.

Naruto didn't understand a bit. She didn't make it through the prelims, so why was she bragging?

"Man, such a drag . . ." Shikamaru sighed before following after his steaming teammate. "I'll see you later Naruto."

"Bye Shikamaru!"

"_So that's Shikaku's son and Inoichi's daughter huh?"_

Naruto opened his mouth to reply but his father cut him off.

"_Not here."_

Naruto nodded before leaping back on the telephone. After a few minutes, he reached the training ground. He checked around the surrounding forests to see if he could find anyone around, but saw to his relief, he found no one else there.

"Phew, that coulda been bad."

"_We need to figure out a way to talk mentally," _Minato paused as he thought about it.

_"_She probably thinks I'm crazy," Naruto sighed unhappily while his father thought.

"_Think a sentence,"_

"Well okay," Naruto said, before furrowing his brow and thinking. "_I really want ramen for breakfast."_

_"Mmm, no don't treat it like a normal thought," _Minato said. He'd seen the thought passing by in the stream before him, but it was no different than the other trains of thoughts that surrounded it. Digging through piles of his son's thoughts would take too long, and besides that, he told his son he wouldn't read his mind (he honestly didn't want to).

"You want me to think thought that isn't a normal thought?" Naruto asked dubiously.

"_Try thinking at me,"_ Minato suggested. "_You can sort of sense me, can't you?"_

Naruto paused as he thought about it. When his father made those weird little sensations that echoed real life motions like nodding and smiling, they did seem to come from somewhere . . .

"Smile so I can find you," Naruto said before sitting on the grass and closing his eyes.

"_Okay."_

A flash of warmth that felt like pure 'smile' spread from a part of his mind. He quickly tried to follow it. Sorting out different parts of his mind was a little strange, but Naruto pushed himself forward anyways. Finally he felt like he found the location.

"_I think you're here,"_ Minato put in.

"Now what?" Naruto asked, concentrating hard so as not to lose what he found.

"_Try thinking towards that direction," _

_"Does he mean like this?" _Naruto wondered

"_Ah, I heard that!" _Minato exclaimed.

"Did you really?"

"_Yeah." _The Yondaime smiled even wider, "_Nice job Naruto."_

"_THIS REALLY WORKS?"_ Naruto pushed in amazement.

He felt the odd sensation of wincing. "_Ah, yes Naruto, though think a little softer."_

_"Sorry."_

_"This will make things a lot easier_."

"But if we aren't by anybody I'm just gonna talk out loud." Naruto rubbed his head. He found out where to talk at and how to do it, but it still took more concentration than felt comfortable.

"_Don't worry Naruto, it'll get easier over time." _Minato assured.

"_I thought you said you weren't gonna read my mind?" _Naruto thought back indignantly.

"_I didn't, but it was pretty easy to figure out what you were thinking." _Minato replied, smiling lightly at his child's outrage. "_Weren't you going to try water walking?" _The Yondaime reminded before Naruto could respond.

"Oh right! I almost forgot!" Naruto jumped to his feet. The stream ran along the entire village, and the training grounds were arranged accordingly. Every training ground had a portion of the river to practice jutsu or water-combat. Naruto picked the very last training ground, training ground 14 because it was less likely to be used. When he arrived at the water he stopped. Cracking his neck, he placed both his hands together in a handsign and began gathering chakra.

"_Mou, Naruto, you're gathering way too much."_

"Eh, am I?"

"_Yes, lower it a little— right there is perfect. Try taking a step."_

Naruto nodded and tentatively placed his foot on the water, mindful to adjust according to the currents . . . And found himself standing on the water stably.

"I did it!" he exclaimed in delight, jumping up and down just because he could.

"_Well done!" _Minato smiled as Naruto ran around the water jumping and skipping.

"This is so awesome!" the blond genin grinned widely at his success. It quickly shifted into a sly expression.

"You know what this means, don't you dad?"

"_Yes, yes, I will teach you a new jutsu," _Minato said, chuckling a little.

"Alright! New jutsu!" Naruto quickly ran back onto the solid ground. "What is it? Oooh what rank is it?"

"_It's a C-rank."_

"Ehh?!" Naruto's disappointment was palpable. Minato sighed inwardly. His son was still too young to understand the true capacity of a jutsu, but this was a good place to start teaching it.

"_Naruto, you do know that Kage Bushin is only a B-rank, don't you?" _Minato asked.

"No way! It's gotta be an A-rank, it's so powerful!" Naruto said incredulously. The Yondaime grinned at the expected response.

"_Nope. It's B-rank. But you're right, it is powerful, especially if someone imaginative like you is using it. An A-rank jutsu can be more like a C-rank if one doesn't use it to its full potential. Knowing the jutsu is only half the battle, how you use it is the other half_."

"Well, that's a good point I guess," Naruto acknowledged with a wide grin, pleased by the compliment. "What are the handsigns?"

_"Ah, there are no handsigns,"_ his father informed him

"That's cool!"

"_It should save you some time."_ Minato especially liked techniques that could be done at an instance's notice. A lot of the jutsu in his repertoire were ones that didn't require handsigns. He did anything he could in an effort to increase his speed.

"So what do I do then?" Naruto asked, shaking Minato from his thoughts.

"_The name is Fūton: Reppūshō. It's also called, Gale Palm, and it is a wind ninjustu._" The Yondaime explained.

"Wind?" Naruto furrowed his brow. He'd never heard of jutsu that had wind in it.

"_Yes, there are five types of elemental styles that can be applied to jutsu to increase their strength._"

"Those sound so cool!" Naruto lit up.

"_Ah, well, we don't have the means to check your type right now, so the jutsu I chose is a more basic one. Most people can use this jutsu even if they don't have the wind type._" He smiled, "_Though I have a feeling you take after me and are a wind type._"

"Really?" Naruto didn't know exactly what that meant but if it was after his dad, then it must be cool!

"_Yes, your chakra feels like wind type, but I can't say anything more without checking._"

"Can't I know now!?" He crossed his arms petulantly.

"_Maybe eventually, but right now you're preparing for the exam, aren't you? There isn't enough time to train you in a type properly. Let's focus on what we can do, ne?_"

"Yeah." Naruto exhaled. It gave him something to look forward to at least. "So if there aren't handsigns then how do I mold chakra?"

"_The title of the ninjustu tells you everything. You gather chakra between your palms until it creates a small squall and then release it toward an enemy when it's large enough. It's a very basic type of chakra manipulation_," Minato explained. "_In this jutsu, the more chakra you can gather, the better you tend to do, which I think is good for someone like you—"_

Naruto immediately gathered as much chakra as he could into his palms and was promptly blown off his feet.

"Agh!" he exclaimed as he hit the ground.

"_I wasn't quite done explaining," _Minato said, smiling at the sulky expression his son's face. "_Generally good for someone like you, by which I mean, the amount of chakra you naturally apply to things is very high, and this is a jutsu that requires a lot of chakra. It's good for you because you have chakra to spare."_

"You shoulda said that before," Naruto murmured.

Minato ignored it. "_Your hands should be lightly clasped, okay?"_

"Like this?" Naruto asked, his hands placed lightly in each other.

"_Exactly. Now when you apply the chakra, try to build it up. Let the amount in your hands grow gradually."_

Naruto furrowed his brow and attempted to replicate what his father told him.

A blast of chakra knocked him down again before dispersing.

"This is hard!" He exclaimed.

Minato opened his mouth to give him encouragement, but before he could say anything, Naruto was standing again.

He clasped his hands and poured chakra in his hand. His eyebrows were tense with focus as he stared down at his hands, willing the jutsu to appear.

Minato smiled softly. Naruto never gave up, even when it was hard; with or without encouragement.

"_Why don't you create some clones?" _Minato suggested.

"Oh yeah!" His son's eyes lit up, "I almost forgot."

His hands created a familiar handsign and soon there were thirty Naruto clones around the area. "You know what to do!" he shouted.

"Yosh!" the group shouted back.

Minato smiled as he watched Naruto struggle. If he got this down, then it would be much easier to teach him the rasengan. That was a long ways off though.

The work was tedious, and especially lengthy since failed attempts managed to destroy many surrounding replicas as well as the one attempting it. After a while, one clone exclaimed in delight, and was promptly popped. The knowledge spread through the clones and several 'oh's filled the air as the orange assembly understood a little more. The process repeated several times, though neither the clones nor the original fully succeeded.

Minato tracked the progress of the sun, and before it got to low, he called a things to a stop.

"_Let's leave it here for today, Naruto._"

"Do I have to?" His tone a little whiny. He was so close to getting it! He could feel it. "I still have tons of energy!"

"_It isn't all to do with chakra, your mind needs time to adjust and rest. You shouldn't push so hard when learning a jutsu or anything new, really, it makes your growth slower. Tomorrow, when you're fresh and your mind is clearer, you'll make much more progress,_" Minato said, "_And besides, don't you want to work on your kata?"_

"Of course!"

"_Why don't you try a mock spar against a clone, using what you know so far? Seeing it in real-time will probably make it easier for you to understand how it's applied in real life._"

"That'll be awesome." He spun around quickly before pointing to a random clone. "You! Get over here. We're going to spar."

"Alright!" The rest of the clones crowed, moving to the side so they could watch the battle.

The two identical boys stared each other down sizing up the competition in what Minato thought was an incredibly cute way. Eventually, it was the clone that attacked first.

Minato examined the match closely, making mental notes of what needed improvement. A reoccurring problem was that both Narutos were getting frustrated at how awkward it felt to use the new kata. Several times they fell back into his brawler style, but both recovered quickly with determined expressions.

The Yondaime smiled. That stubbornness was so reminiscent of Kushina.

_"Alright you two, take a break from hand to hand."_

Both Naruto's nodded, panting from the exertion. Few people had the stamina to keep up with him. The clone of himself was one of them.

"_It might be good to try some of them with a kunai, just to get used to using it with a weapon."_ He'd designed his style to be elastic enough to be operable with either only fists or a small weapon, like a kunai. This was mainly so he could use his own unique kunai whenever he wanted. It made activating them much more convenient if he didn't have to pull them out of his pouch. And every second counted on the battlefield.

Naruto nodded and dispersed the clone. The remaining replicas all assumed thoughtful poses as they assimilated the new knowledge into what they already knew.

"Let's all do it this time," Naruto announced.

"Yosh!"

The crowd of Naruto's reflexively pulled kunai out of their pouches before they all frowned. Then, in perfect synchronization, they switched the kunai to the other hand.

Minato blinked. "_Naruto, I know you're fairly ambidextrous, but isn't your right hand the dominant one?"_

_"_Eh? Uh I think so." It was one of those things he didn't really bother thinking about.

"_Why did you switch hands?"_

"It felt more . . . right." He answered, shrugging.

Minato's mind was racing.

"Why _did_ I do that?" The original Naruto asked, feeling the confusion too.

"_I think it's from the reversed flow,_" Minato spoke slowly. "_It reversed your dominant hand too._"

"That's . . . really weird." The Naruto congregation echoed.

"_How interesting,"_ the Yondaime murmured to himself, already filing the information away for further examination.

"You're kind of creepy when you do that," Naruto said bluntly while the other replicas nodded in agreement.

"_Do what?"_

"Get all excited about weird stuff."

"_It's new information Naruto, of course it's exciting."_

"Weirdo," he repeated.

"_One day, I'm sure you'll understand."_

"Geh!" He made a disgusted face.

Minato grinned. It was only a matter of time . . .

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Maybe I just ruined the story. I dunno. Let me know. I was hesitant about posting, but at the end of the day, I just said fuck it. **

**Naruto and Minato's connection will not be permanent. In fact Minato will go to great lengths to make things better, you'll soon see. . .**

**On the poll~ **

**So, I should clarify a few things. **

**OT3= Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura in a relationship.'**

**Why are you trying to ruin the story = no pairings.**

**I hope you all know how absolutely surprised and happy I am to see that gen is the winner at the moment. Y'all should keep voting on my profile page. I am good with any choice y'all make. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Training

**First off, let me say a _masssive _THANK YOU for the reviews! I'm over 100 now! This is seriously exciting for me~!**

**Onto the story!**

* * *

**_Chapter 7: Training_**

* * *

Neither blond was remotely certain if they would end up dreamwalking together. But when Naruto managed to finally fall asleep despite his excitement, he ended up in a strange new place he's never seen before. Flowers filled the entire room, growing from the concrete and dirt patches scattered throughout. Colors, shapes, and sizes of all kinds bloomed around him and he was stunned by the display.

"Naruto?"

His father's voice drew him away from the fascinating sight.

"Is this my psyche thing?"

Minato smiled. "More or less."

"It's weird looking, but kinda pretty," Naruto decided.

"I agree, though I think I'd go with unique instead of weird."

Naruto grinned. That was exactly the sort of thing his dad would say. He felt like he was finally getting used to the idea of a parent.

"Do you want to move somewhere else, or stay here? I can take you anywhere your chakra flows."

Naruto mulled over the question. He really liked this room, but there wasn't too much space. If he ruined one of the beautiful flowers, he thought he might cry.

"Let's go back to the orange room," Naruto decided.

"Alright, hold onto my hand," Minato said, holding his arm out.

"Can't I just grab your shoulder or something?" Naruto asked desperately.

"No," Minato stated.

Naruto made a face somewhere between bashfulness and chagrin, but acquiesced. Minato tried to hide his smile, but from the souring of Naruto's expression, he figured he hadn't really succeeded. He towed his son straight through the concrete walls of the room.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise, but then his eyes doubled when he looked down. "WOAH!" The two of them stood above a veritable river of glowing energy. "Is that my chakra?"

Minato nodded. "This is your circulatory system."

"So cool!" He took a step forward to see it better and the floor suddenly fell out beneath him.

"AHH!" He shouted in terror, flailing desperately as he began to fall.

Before he fell very far, the grip on his hand tightened and his father stopped his descent. With a few heaves, Minato pulled his son up onto the invisible around him. "Be careful not to wander off on your own. You aren't adjusted to moving through this place. It takes a lot of mental focus and control to make a small platform to stand on." Minato looked very seriously at his child "If you fell into the river, I don't know if I could find you."

Naruto's face paled dramatically and he swallowed. At least he knew now why his father demanded he hold his hand. He clasped it tighter unconsciously.

"Don't worry Naruto, I won't let you fall." His father assured him with a light smile. Naruto nodded, but still felt shaken from his near fatal plummet. Minato continued to guide his son over various streams of chakra and through a couple odd rooms that Naruto barely had time to register fully. Eventually, after an indeterminate amount of time, they arrived in the orange room.

Though his mental manifestation didn't get weary like his physical body did, he still collapsed on the floor, more out of habit than anything else.

"Did that last room have a bunch of stray cats?" he asked with a bewildered tone, "What the hell was that about?"

Minato shrugged. "It's your subconscious."

Naruto shook his head numbly. He honestly had no idea what to think. He stated it aloud to his father who smiled before jumping into an explanation about the general setup of his mind.

"Everything in your mind is a stream," Minato started. "Your chakra flows through various parts of it, your thoughts move through in odd rivulets, and even your feelings grow here. That's how I can catch some of your emotions and trains of thoughts. They flow through your chakra system too."

"That's crazy!"

"Kind of neat though," Minato said with a smile. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"What are we gonna do?" Naruto asked curiously. They could do the kata in the real world and that was generally what they spent the most time on in his dreams.

"I thought we could talk strategy," Minato said with a firm voice.

"Eh?" Naruto's face grew despondent.

"Naruto, your first opponent, Neji, comes from a very well-known clan in Konohagakure."

"Yeah, I know that," Naruto huffed.

"The benefits of that though, is that their style is also somewhat general knowledge in the ninja community.

"So you know how to fight them and stuff?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"I know how their chakra and style work," Minato answered. "I studied every style I could so I could make new jutsu. Though I have never gone against a Byakugan user personally."

"Hmmm," Naruto uttered aloud, dissatisfied.

"Someone who could probably help you more is Kakashi. He's gotten into a scuffle or two with Hisashi-san —the head of the clan— if I'm remembering correctly."

"Really?" Naruto asked, excitedly. He was going to be so prepared for this battle!

"With that in mind I'd like to go over the Hyuga's history and then a few more general fighting strategies, like I did before your preliminary match."

Naruto wasn't so big on the idea of strategy, but his father's advice had come in rather handy. "Alright, so what's first?"

Minato smiled.

"History. When Konohagakure was founded, there were four clans . . ."

* * *

Kakashi arrived at the red bridge about five hours later than he'd said he was. With that in mind, he found he couldn't be tremendously upset to find his student dozing in the grass.

"Naruto," Kakashi said. There wasn't a single stir. Kakashi sighed. He needed to work on that with Naruto. A ninja should be ready to wake up in a single moment at the slightest sound.

Kakashi placed his book in his pocket before he approached his sprawled out student. Cracking his knuckles, he proceeded to line up his shot. With a single swift movement, he began thoroughly tickling his student.

Naruto started laughing helplessly, kicking a flailing uselessly against the sudden onslaught.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing?" Naruto managed between his uncontrollable giggle.

"Hm, what do you mean?" Kakashi asked mildly, not pausing at all.

After a few minutes, which by the end, Naruto was completely out of breath with aching sides, the gray-haired jonin pulled away.

"Sorry I thought you could use a little help waking up."

"I'm up, I'm definitely up! Just don't tickle me anymore!" Naruto exclaimed scooting away quickly, eyeing him with blatant distrust as he regained his breath.

Kakashi sighed inwardly. "So Naruto, what have you been up to recently?"

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, do you know anything about the Hyugas?" Naruto bypassed his teacher's question.

"Well, I may have picked up a few things over the years," Kakashi said slowly. He smiled a little inside. He found it amusing that of all three of his students, Naruto was the only one to ask him about his opponent so far. Gai was his ultimate rival, (so he was told,) and he knew his style intimately. Beyond what Kakashi had told Sasuke, the Uchiha hadn't asked anything else. Shino was a member of a clan in Konoha, and Kakashi always did his research on the clans. It was likely that her other jonin-sensei Ebisu told her some of the functions, but Kakashi he had seen them in action with his sharingan, and saw how their mechanics of how their jutsu worked— something beyond rare.

But he obviously wasn't going to volunteer any information unnecessarily.

Naruto seemed to understand when to ask for help though. Kakashi recalled the time they were learning how to tree-walk and how he had turned to Sakura for advice, while Sasuke was too proud.

"Well Naruto, the Hyugas are central clan in Konoha."

"I know that." Naruto cut in bluntly. "The Hyuga clan is one of the four noble clans of Konohagakure. All members have the Byakugan, a bloodline trait that lets them see through solid objects and even the chakra circulatory system, and expel chakra from any of the chakra-points in their body. The gentle fist is considered the strongest taijutsu style in the village. The current leader is Hyuga Hisashi, and he came to power after his father died, and he had a twin and—"

"Slow down Naruto," Kakashi urged. "I didn't know you had done so much research."

Naruto grimaced. "It was terrible."

_"Don't you see how useful it is though?"_ Minato asked in Naruto's mind. "_Now you don't have to waste what little time you have with Kakashi listening to a lecture."_

He had a point but Naruto still crossed his arms petulantly.

Kakashi wanted to smile at the reaction, but he was more surprised than anything. "I don't really know what you want me to tell you about them."

"I want you to tell me how they fight. What stance they have and all that!"

Kakashi blinked. That was a surprisingly excellent request. With his sharingan, he remembered every detail of his fights with Hisashi when they were both training as chunin. Kakashi nodded after a moment before moving away from the bridge and towards the trees. Naruto followed along eagerly. Kakashi summoned the memory into his mind.

"The general stance of the jutsu is like this," Kakashi demonstrated, fluidly moving into position.

Naruto walked around it, trying to memorize it.

_"Naruto, this is probably the most important part of the gentle fist taijutsu. The stance is a powerful one that allows for quick defense and attack in very close combat situations. See how the arms are posed, ready to bat an attack away or jab forward." _Minato informed him.

Naruto nodded along. "So I should avoid close combat and attack from far away?"

"_Yes. That's—"_

"Exactly right Naruto," Kakashi said, surprise laced in his voice as he dropped the stance. Naruto froze and his father rubbed his head sheepishly. They'd both forgotten they had an audience.

"I remember his and Hinata's fight," Naruto said, "It was all close, nothing far away."

"It would be a good idea to learn some jutsu for mid-distance fighting, since that would be the best place to stand."

Naruto's face lit up. "I got a perfect one!"

_"You planned that, huh?" _Naruto asked his father.

Minato chuckled

"Really? What is it?" Kakashi queried.

"Uhm, Futon r—" The official name always tripped him up. "Gale palm," he said instead.

Kakashi carefully hid his utter bewilderment at that announcement.

"Where did you learn about that jutsu, Naruto?" He asked.

"Uhm, a scroll . . ." he finished lamely.

Kakashi stared at him piercingly. That was a jutsu Minato-sensei used, and Kakashi would bet money that it was Jiraiya that taught it to him. The Sandaime had said he was back in town. Naruto's reluctance to talk about it was interesting, but he imagined it could be for a while range of reasons. There were very few people that were as complex and strange as Naruto was, but Jiraiya was certainly one of them. If Naruto didn't want to share the truth about his sensei, then Kakashi wouldn't pry.

"Alright." Kakashi said, grinning inwardly when his student almost fell over in surprise.

"_Do you think he bought it?" _Naruto asked, straining himself so he could talk mentally.

"_Not at all, but let's not push any further."_

"It's a good jutsu for this fight," Kakashi began. "How much progress have you made?"

"Well, I got the amount of chakra right, but I can't add it slowly enough."

"Will you show me?"

Naruto hesitated before he held out his loosely clasped hands. Kakashi noted that the pose was perfect.

Naruto honed in on the palms of his hands and forced himself to slowly add chakra, but in no time flat, the jutsu blew him off his feet. Typical.

Kakashi nodded to himself. It was as he expected Naruto couldn't integrate the chakra slow enough. Instead he injected large bursts that ended up blowing his hands apart, making the chakra spiral wildly out of his grasp. The jutsu had to build slowly enough that the user could adjust their hands to keep it in control.

Naruto picked himself up sullenly.

"Naruto, come over here and let me demonstrate for you," Kakashi said as he drew on the memory of this jutsu from years ago.

His student quickly moved over to his side eagerly. He'd never been able to see what it really did and was psyched for the demonstration.

Kakashi brought his hands together, echoing Naruto's stance, and his own sensei's stance. Taking a deep breath, he slowly began gathering chakra in between his palms. As he did, he couldn't help but notice what a good jutsu this was to teach Naruto. Though it was a wind jutsu and was supposed to require wind chakra, the raw chakra gathered between the palms was generally enough to replicated the main features. Without the sharp edges of the wind chakra, it wouldn't release sharp airstream blades, but for the chunin exam that wouldn't be a pro, since knockout was the priority, not death or max damage. Jiraiya really knew what he was doing.

Kakashi could do this jutsu in seconds flat, but he slowed it down so that Naruto could see the chakra slowly build up.

A fat swirling tornado of chakra sat in his hands by the time he finished adding chakra. He held it at that point, letting Naruto 'oooh' and 'ahhh' as he looked at it from all kinds of angles.

"Stand back," Kakashi directed. Naruto quickly obeyed, moving behind his sensei.

Kakashi had been careful not to mold his chakra into wind energy, so when he released it, a strong gust blew out of his hands, tearing forward. An unlucky tree in its path was almost ripped up by its roots. After a few more yards it finally dissipated.

"Oh wow!" Naruto exclaimed. "That is so awesome!"

"Do you know what I mean when I talk about the slow build?"

"Uhhh, sorta." Naruto scratched his head.

"Why don't you try it a few times? It'll be a while until I need to meet up Sasuke again."

"I'm pretty much 100% sure you're lying," Naruto said, clearly noting the irritation and annoyance coming from Sasuke. Kakashi shrugged.

"Well okay!" The blond was never the type to turn away help, especially when it came from his jonin –sensei who had proven repeatedly that he was strong. A while ago he would have been bouncing off the wall in excitement, but since his father had begun training him, he felt much calmer about it all. He felt more confident in himself in general. His father ruffled his hair inside his mind.

"_You've always had the confidence Naruto, I only help you hone it."_

Naruto smiled before cracking his knuckles and pulling his hands together. However, it wasn't the position Kakashi was expecting.

He blinked as twenty orange-wearing shadow clones filled the area.

"You know what to do everyone," the original spoke and the replicas nodded in perfect harmony.

Failed jutsu quickly filled the area. The explosions destroyed several clones each time, making Naruto growl before replacing them. Thinking about the sheer amount of chakra Naruto was blowing through made Kakashi's head hurt. Kage-level chakra, no doubt about it.

"I take it you figured how to train using shadow clones then?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"It was in the forest when we were spying on the Iwa team. I scouted them and stuff and then I destroyed the clone. Sasuke asked me some dumb question about what they looked like and I realized that I knew even though I didn't see it myself."

The real revelation didn't happen exactly like that, but Naruto figured it was close enough.

"Impressive Naruto," Kakashi said lightly, "Your powers of observation are certainly growing."

Naruto smiled at the compliment.

"Anyway, I'm going to reunite with Sasuke before he gets any testier. See you later." Leaves swirled where Kakashi once stood. Naruto shook his head. Sasuke was going to boil over one of these days and Naruto felt it would have something to do with Kakashi-sensei. At least he hoped so. Anyone was fine so long as it wasn't Naruto.

"_Naruto-kun, after watching what Kakashi told you, I got an idea."_ Minato spoke up. "_You can disperse your clones."_

"What is it?" Naruto asked eagerly. Poofs covered the area as the space emptied.

"_A lot of the time, when a person is working on chakra control they use a mental image to help them. When you walk on trees, what do you think about Naruto?"_ Minato began.

"Eh? Well I think about spreading a really thin coat of chakra on my feet and then it works."

_"The key part of that is that you imagine a thin layer."_ The Yondaime explained. "_Medical nin often train the really detailed work by imagining that their chakra is one big pile of sand. Then they imagine picking up only one or two pieces of sand."_

"That sounds hard!"

_"It is," _Minato assured. "_But I thought of a great one for you though Naruto-kun."_

"What is it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"_Imagine you're making instant ramen."_

"Haa?"

"_Wait, Naruto-kun,"_ Minato reminded, making his son cross his arms. "_In this scenario, you hold the noodles in between your hands, okay?"_

"So is my chakra the water then?" Naruto asked.

"_Exactly." _Minato nodded. "_But the water is boiling hot, correct, so you must be careful with how you pour it."_

_"_I still don't see how this helps . . ."

"_Naruto-kun, when you pour the hot water onto the noodles, do you tip the entire kettle of water over it?"_

"No," Naruto said, like it was obvious.

"_Of course not, if you tipped it too far the water would spill everywhere. There isn't sufficient air in the kettle, so too compensate the water comes out in large bursts. You'd probably burn yourself. No, you start pouring the water in slowly. When there is more air in the kettle, you can pour more quickly."_

_"_So I should imagine that I'm pouring boiling water in my hands which have instant ramen in them?" Naruto asked. In his head it seemed pretty stupid.

"_Basically."_

The genin looked dubious but held his hands out.

"_Close your eyes, Naruto-kun."_

Naruto complied. His brow furrowed as he tried to imagine what his father said. It was easier than he thought truthfully. The ramen was in his grasp, and he just needed to pour in the water. He tried to slowly add the water from his hands but found himself flying off his feet before he could even open his eyes. The blond genin pouted. He'd failed even quicker that time around! Sheepish laughter came from inside his mind.

"_Perhaps that analogy doesn't really work for you, but you should try it a few more times just in case." _

Naruto sat up and frowned before crossing his legs and folding his arms. He hmmed in deep thought. There was something not right about the scenario his father was describing. Naruto knew ramen-making intimately, and he knew something was askew . . .

"_Naruto?"_

"I got it!" Naruto exclaimed, leaping to his feet.

Clear surprise came from his father. "_What is it, Naruto?"_

"Just wait, lemme see if it'll work." Naruto's paused. "And don't cheat either!"

"_Naruto, I promised not to look into your thoughts, remember?" _His father reminded kindly.

Naruto shrugged. Sure the Yondaime _said _that, but it wasn't like Naruto would actually know. Then again, he supposed that Hokage's didn't really lie . . . He shook the thoughts from his mind. Naruto wanted to try his new trick and see if it would work.

He assumed the same stance from before, with his legs spread a little to prevent himself from being knocked over from the kickback, and his hands a little bit apart from each other. He felt his father's curiosity and carefully moved the sensation to the back of his mind.

Instead, he visualized holding a cup in one hand, and a tea kettle in the other. He had to add it slowly or he'd overfill the cup in his hand and the broth would spill out. He didn't want the cup to overflow. That would suck if the broth spilled on his table. He really liked the broth . . .

"_Naruto-kun!"_

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a fat tornado in his hands. His concentration broke and he was blown off his feet, but the fact remained.

"I got it!" He shouted in triumph as he jumped to his feet.

"_Congratulations."_

"Thanks dad!"

"_What changed?" _His father inquired.

"I used one hand to hold the noodles and added the water with the other! You can't add water both directions."

Minato blinked before smiling. His child was truly brilliant.

"Let me try it again. With clones this time!" He exclaimed, drawing up a dozen replicas.

"Neji is going down!" they crowed.

Before any of them could pull their hands together, they were bent over clutching their stomachs.

"_Naruto-kun?"_

"I think Sakura-chan is really, really, mad at someone." Sakura's emotions didn't tend to bother him as much as Sasuke's did. They also seemed weaker most of the time. But rage was something she was very good at.

"_I wonder what made her so furious."_

"As long as it isn't me, it's fine," Naruto said, righting himself as he forced himself away from her emotion.

Minato sweatdropped. He was getting eerie echoes of his relationship with Kushina.

Naruto finally stopped after performing the jutsu at least twelve more times. Minato figured the extensive use of the jutsu, coupled with the constant replacing of clones, his son would be getting a little tired.

"_Do you have the energy do some sparring?" _Minato asked, "_I know you're probably getting a little tired—"_

"No way! I got tons of energy! I'll spar with a bushin."

"_Okay, but don't make too many—"_

Thirty Naruto's filled the area.

"—_clones." _Minato finished lamely.

"Oh, whoops." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. "You all, get out of here!" Thirty identical poofs signified the departure of the batch of replicas.

"_That wasn't really what I meant." _Minato sweatdropped. "_Aren't you tired?"_

"Not really." He frowned. "Do you want clones, or not?"

"_If you aren't too tired, then I suppose we can continue training," _the Yondaime said eventually. "_Can you make more clones?"_

"Of course!" After a flippant wave of his arm Naruto placed his fingers in a familiar hand-sign. "Kage Bushin no jutsu!"

The Fourth Hokage blinked as twenty more Naruto's filled the area. Each was looking around at their surroundings idly as they waited for orders from the original. Naruto never seemed to fully reach his limit. That would certainly be something to look into for later.

Looking at the assembly before him, a thought suddenly struck him. "_There isn't another one of me in there with you all? I mean, can each of you feel my spirit within?_"

The original started in surprise. That wasn't something he'd considered before. A replica in front finally answered. "No, just the boss."

The clone confirmed his suspicions, but also hinted at another fact to be uncovered.

"_I wonder . . ."_ He had to check. "_Naruto, ask your clones if they can hear me._"

Before the original Naruto could even open his mouth, the mass replied, "We can hear you just fine,"

"_Just as I thought,_" the Yondaime could no longer contain his excitement and it rolled off of him in waves.

"Huh? What happened?" his son asked, picking up on his father's mood.

"_Because there is an open mind-link between you and I, there are similar ones between me and your clones._"

The looks on his son's and all of the clones' faces were confused at best. A handful half-understood what he meant, but didn't know what it implied.

"_This is a __**great**__ asset._"

"Why?" None of the orange clad ninja grasped what he was getting at.

Minato paused. He knew that his son struggled to grasp theory. Using visual and real world examples worked much better. He'd decided to do a different approach than just walking through it though. Guiding his son towards the answer would help him to start making these conclusions himself later on. He hoped.

"_Naruto, when you and your clones fight an enemy, how do you usually decide what tactic you'll use during the fight?_"

"Well they know what I'm thinking when they come out."

"_Yes, yes, but after that_," he stopped and abandoned that train. A word problem with a story would be better. Or at least more engaging. "_Say you're protecting a group of civilians from bandits,_" Minato proposed. He barely kept his face together when in unison all the clones sat down on the grass around the original.

He cleared his throat. "_Well, you and your clones are fighting the bandits when one of them starts to use make handsigns for a jutsu—_" A clone cut him off with a question.

"I thought he was a bandit?"

Minato blinked. "_He's a shinobi-bandit._"

"That doesn't seem very likely. If he's a shinobi, he wouldn't have to attack people for money, he could steal it. Ninja are waay sneaky," a clone from the back pointed out.

"_He can't because he's a really bad shinobi._"

"Why is he a bandit?" another Naruto asked.

"_For money?"_ Minato hazarded a guess, "_Now he started to—"_

He was cut off once more, but this time by the original who was scoffing at the bandit's behavior. "If he needs money then he should just take missions from his village."

"_He defected._"

There was a chorus of "Huh?" and blank looks all around

"_Left the village._" Minato hastily explained.

From the left, there was another question. "Ne, which village is he from?"

The Yondaime bit back a weary sigh. "_It doesn't matter."_

"It does too matter, cause then we could figure out what kind of jutsu he'll use," an orange-clad replica said and the rest of the mass nodded along in agreement.

So Naruto did have a point, it _was_ technically relevant, but not to the story he was currently trying to tell. "_He's not wearing a headband,"_ Minato deadpanned and there was a rise of disappointed groans.

A curious question once more put off his return to his narration. "Why did he leave the village to begin with?"

"_Because the love of his life chose to be with someone else,_" the Yondaime made up the excuse quickly. "_So he's starting a jutsu—_"

"Did she know he loved her?"

"_Uh, no—_"

"Why didn't he confess then?" The clone seemed oddly angry with the shinobi-bandit's imaginary behavior.

Minato scratched the back of his head. "_Well—_"

"He could have been shy," a clone on the left suggested.

"I think he still should have," the Naruto clone in the front said. "That way she could have decided who she wanted to be with, knowing he's interested; At least then he won't have any regrets."

"Yeah, she probably loved him but didn't know if he felt the same way! He shoulda been up front with how he felt!" a clone from the back proclaimed.

Minato sighed as he watched his son carry on a conversation over his head with his own clones. Naruto was such an excitable boy. That had its pros and cons. When Minato was trying to keep his attention or make a point, it generally fell under the 'con' category. Everything else was a pro though, (for the most part, getting so excited for ramen couldn't be that healthy.) Minato found himself fondly exasperated.

"That was a dumb reason to defect." All of the Narutos were feeling proud of their new vocabulary.

"Yeah, I get rejected by Sakura nearly every day and I'd never defect over something like that. He should have valued his village more," the original spoke decisively.

"Well maybe it isn't too late," the clone from the front put forth pensively.

"Yeah, maybe he could go and apologize to his Hokage and then—"

"_Actually, Naruto, it would be his 'Kage.' The Hokage is Konoha's Kage, so wherever he hailed from, the leader there would have a different title before 'Kage.'_" Minato corrected automatically.

"Oh," They all took in the knowledge eagerly.

The Fourth tried to seize the momentary pause, "_As I was saying—"_

. . . And was subsequently thwarted once more by one of the many replicas.

"Well if the Kage accepts his request to un-defect then he could go talk to her again," a clone advocated.

"What if she's married?" one clone asked.

There was muttering through the congregation. There was always a possibility that would happen.

"He should still tell her so he can get it off his chest. That way they both know where they stand." another replied.

There were nods all around. "Yeah! And maybe if it doesn't work out, at least he won't have any regrets and he can move on."

"That's true . . ." a tentative clone eventually conceded.

A sudden thought occurred to one of the clones and he gasped "Wait, will he be alive to do this by the end of the story?"

"Oh yeah! Dad, does he live?"

Suddenly, the Yondaime found himself under the imploring gaze of at least a twenty pairs of identical blue eyes.

A wry grin broke over his face. "_You want me to actually finish the story then? You were doing a pretty good job yourself._"

The orange congregation had the sense to look sheepish as they realized what they'd been doing.

"Gomen, gomen," they apologized in sync. Minato could only smile and shake his head at his son's antics.

"_Where was I, ah yes, so you were fighting the poorly-skilled shinobi-bandit who defected from his village because a girl broke his heart, though it's his own fault for not expressing his feelings—_"

"Da-ad!" His son(s?) said in annoyed and embarrassed tones.

The Yondaime couldn't resist the last shot, but he let it drop and returned to his figurative example. If he wasn't careful, he might lose his chance to talk if someone asked another question. He coughed and hastily jumped back into his story.

"_He's starting an unknown jutsu. While he's making the handsigns, you want to take the chance and attack him while his guard is down. You decide that the best way would be to attack from behind. What do you do now?_" Minato asked his son, before adding more. "_Keep in mind that you personally can't leave the villagers alone to attack him, because if he pulls off the jutsu and the clones you leave behind are destroyed, there won't be anyone to defend the civilians._"

Naruto snorted. "That's easy, I'll just send one of my clones sneak up from behind."

"_How will they know what to do?"_

Minato felt a tick of anger at Naruto as his son shot him a look that clearly betrayed that Naruto thought Minato was being stupid. "I'll tell him."

"_Ah, but if you say it out loud, the enemy will know what you're planning,_" Minato pointed out, smiling inwardly as his son realized what he meant.

"Then I'll whisper it to a clone," Naruto countered, a mild frown overtaking his face.

"_You don't want to draw any attention to yourself if you can help it._"

"Ah, well I'll be super sneaky then."

"_There's a better way though,_" The Yondaime said with a secretive smile. Watching his son puzzle over this was actually pretty entertaining.

"Hmmm, well, then I'll make another clone and they'll know what I want to do 'cause I made them when I had the plan in mind."

Minato was delighted by how far his son was thinking things through. Still, he was missing something vital. "_Now you've drawn attention to the clone you just created. Besides, you're in the heat of battle and you don't have any time to spare to do a jutsu; you have to act instantly."_

Naruto was silent for a minute before he groaned and rubbed his head furiously. "Maa, you're making this too complicated!"

"_No I'm not."_ The stern tone quickly caught Naruto's attention. "T_here is a very real possibility you will face situations like this in your career as a shinobi. One day or another you'll have to make tough decisions and formulate quick plans to escape tough situations like this one. In moments like these it could mean life or death to yourself and those around you so it is crucial to be prepared for every possible circumstance._" Minato paused and took in the leaves that were gently blowing through the wind. Hopefully Naruto wouldn't be in those types of situations for a while. Minato grimaced. Knowing the path of a shinobi firsthand, he doubted it. Either way, he just had to have faith that his son would know what to do if and when a situation like this occurred. It was Minato's job to help him prepare for that eventuality.

The older man let exhaled heavily. "_This is a talk for another day though. For now, let's focus back on our shinobi-bandit, ne?_" He finished with a light smile to ease the mood from its serious setting.

Naruto nodded, he was very agreeable moving back into the word problem. "Well, then, what's the answer?" Naruto asked curiously.

"_That isn't the question to be asking,_" the Yondaime said. "_How could you let your clone know what to do without talking or drawing any attention to yourself?_"

"Gah! I don't know. It isn't like I can talk to them in my mind," Naruto huffed.

Maybe Minato could give him one last hint. "_Naruto the color orange is hideous."_

A chorus of indignation rose at his words. Minato replied with the mental equivalence of sticking out his tongue. More outrage poured out, however the original hadn't responded with the rest the second time, instead, he was thinking quite hard.

"They all heard what you said," Naruto began slowly, and Minato smiled, though he remained silent. "You can talk to all of them, so that means you can tell all of them what I'm thinking!"

Minato beamed with pride. "_Exactly! I can relay what you want to say to them and no one else will know what's going on."_

The clones were tittering excitedly. The implications of what Minato had just revealed were sinking in and a similar level of excitement finally swelled up to challenge his father's.

"_You see why this is so helpful? You can now have instantaneous contact with your clones._"

"So they don't have to destroy themselves to pass on information! I can keep all my clones and never have to destroy them.

Minato blinked as his son took it a step even further. "_That's a great point._" He mentally ruffled his son's hair. Naruto blushed lightly at the sensation but couldn't help but lean towards the feeling.

He jolted away suddenly, grimacing.

"_What is it?" _Minato asked with concern.

"Sasuke. I think . . . he's really mad right now." The rage made his stomach hurt. The feeling was very strong, making it hard to resist.

"_Do you remember what you all discovered? About when here are two emotions?"_

"The stronger one wins . . ." Naruto nodded to himself before he tried focusing on something strong— like the joy of his own accomplishment. He was doing so well! He was learning so much. He got an awesome jutsu and he was getting fast and powerful and he would show everyone that he was capable of so much more than they thought. He was someone— not a nobody.

By the time his trail of thoughts finished, he was pleased to note the anger had vanished. He grinned at his success.

"Alright! I kick ass at this emotion thing!"

"_I don't know if it's a competition . . . but yes, yes you do."_

* * *

Kakashi jumped over the trees to his meeting point will Sakura. When he saw the irritation on her face, he jumped down from the tree a little ways away and pulled out his book. With complete slothfulness, he slowly meandered towards her.

"You're late!" She exclaimed at him when he entered her sight. Frustration lit her entire expression.

"Am I?" He asked, looking upwards.

"Yes! You told me to be here at one, it's almost five right now!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kakashi smiled. He realized she was especially upset because today was Sunday, and as she had so brashly informed him, she had engagements to keep. He hadn't planned that, but what a nice coincidence.

"Well, I'm here now, so why don't we stop wasting time, and get to work?" he asked, shutting his book.

"Wasting time—" Her teeth grit together and the fist she had formed at her side was trembling with rage.

Excellent.

"Let's spar," he said lightly.

"Oh sensei, you're going to regret that choice!" she exclaimed before coming at him furiously.

They sparred heavily for fifteen minutes, Sakura growing more and more frustrated as time went on.

Kakashi frowned. He wanted her angry because it usually made her more aggressive and less likely to second guess herself. Normally, for a ninja, assessing and reassessing one's actions was a prized quality. However, with Sakura, whose insecurity ran rampant, it was only in her anger that she found any initiative. This though, was too far.

He held a hand up and stepped back.

She was breathing heavily, still glaring at him as she relaxed her guard.

"Calm down, your rage is clouding your mind." He pulled his book out. "We can't make progress like this. When you're too angry, you lose focus. When you feel very calm, you're too tentative. It's a very delicate balance. It'll take time to find it."

"I'm not getting stronger at all!" She exclaimed, staring at the ground with frustration. Upset lurked around the corner but she resisted.

"That's all relative," Kakashi said idly from behind his book.

She sighed heavily. Sakura already knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, compared to Ino I'm pretty strong, but compared to Naruto and Sasuke-kun I'm really weak!" Inferiority built in her chest. "How am I supposed to catch up to them?"

"Sakura, you aren't as physically strong as Sasuke or Naruto," Kakashi said, ignoring her downhearted expression. "It isn't all to do with you in particular, but from an objective standpoint, women are generally physically weaker, they can't build as much muscle. However, they are no less dangerous despite that," he informed her. "Cunning, is something in particular I have noticed many kunoichi have over men."

"I don't think I'm very cunning sensei," Sakura said unenthusiastically.

He ignored her. "Your strength in particular, lies in other places. In order to compensate for the fact you are physically weaker, you need to take advantage of every resource. Do you remember your preliminary match against Choji?"

She nodded. The victory was something she still reveled in.

"You didn't win that match by strength, you did so by innovation. That's what examiners are looking for in a chunin," Kakashi said "Don't forget that this is why you're in the exam. You don't need to beat every person to pass, you just need to show your strength. Use what you have, and stop forcing yourself to fit what you assume to be a mold of strength. There are more kinds of strength than physical."

Sakura's face had blossomed at his words. Light filled her eyes along with a determination that made him smile. She stood up, mentally refreshed. Sakura fell back into a fighting pose. Kakashi subtly smiled before standing as well and putting his book away.

"Alright then, once more."

She leapt at him.

"Sensei, how is Sasuke-kun?" She asked. "Is he doing well? I mean of course he's doing well, I just mean—"

"Sasuke is working hard just like you to become stronger." He assured her before he tilted his head lightly. "Don't you already knew how he is?"

"Well, I mean, I get a lot of frustration, which makes sense with all the intense training he's doing. Sometimes I get confidence but that doesn't really explain how he is."

Kakashi nodded. That sounded about right from what he observed. "Sasuke is doing fine. He struggles just much as you do when learning something new. On the whole, he's the same as ever." Reticent, with a thread of arrogance running through.

"Um Sensei," Sakura began hesitantly, "Do you know if Naruto's gotten a jonin to teach him?"

Kakashi stared at her curiously. Jiraiya was teaching him, but he wondered what Sakura was getting at, so he replied, "I don't think so, why do you ask."

"Well, I just get tons of happiness and uhm victory from him. It's a little weird, huh?"

"Sakura, Naruto has taken a very wise approach to this training," Kakashi said.

"Naruto? Wise?" she asked incredulously. Naruto rarely had wise insights. Lucky ones at times, but never wise.

"He has his moments," Kakashi said, echoing her thoughts. "I think it you could profit from his new training philosophy too."

"What is it?"

"Naruto is doing basic conditioning, tackling each part of his training one by one. First by working on flexibility and speed, then memorizing Kata, and then water walking." He paused, "By breaking it up into baby steps, each time he achieves his goal, he feels success, which helps him keep motivated. I imagine that's what you're getting from the bond."

**"Baby steps are the only way Naruto knows how to move,"** a slightly vindictive part of herself said. Another part considered her sensei's words. It appeared as though Naruto had struck gold on another lucky realization. Then again, she took it back, he probably hadn't realized yet what he'd done.

"Talk to Ebisu-sensei about it and see what he has to say," Kakashi suggested, "It can really improve your mentality, along with improving your core, which is never a bad thing"

"Is that how you train sensei?" Sakura asked.

"No, I don't have the patience." He smiled. "To be honest it surprises me that Naruto does."

"Me too," Sakura replied, sighing in relief that she wasn't alone in her assumptions.

"Well, I hope you'll keep at this, you're developing well so far."

She smiled brightly.

"You probably should head back, if I recall someone has family dinners to attend on Sundays." She blushed furious at the reminder of her rash words.

"I'll see you on Tuesday Sakura," he said giving her a wave before disappearing.

She stared a while at where his body was before she looked upward at the fading light.

"_Just wait Sasuke-kun! I'll show you how strong I've gotten. I deserve to be up there with you!"_

She then realized the sun had gone down and ran home quickly, knowing she was in trouble.

* * *

Naruto was heading home when he saw a pink head quickly moving down the street a little ahead.

"Ne, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried in delight as he ran towards her.

"Oh, it's you Naruto." She sighed. It looked like she was going to be late to dinner. She didn't stop walking though, making Naruto run a little to catch up to where she was.

"Hi! How is your training going?" he asked, genuinely curious.

She hesitated a moment. She really wanted to vent to someone, but this was Naruto. And besides that, they were technically competitors.

She also didn't want to talk to him because from what she felt from his emotions his training was going great. Unlike her own.

"It's so-so," she said.

"I bet it's great!" Naruto pushed, "I'm getting a lot of irritation; especially today!" he began, trying to urge her along. "Sometimes you're all sad, which I'm kinda curious about but being frustrated only means you're learning something really hard and cool which—" He stopped as he felt a wave of anger rise.

"You're such an inconsiderate jerk!"

Minato winced as the pink-haired girl smacked his son. Without another word, she spun on her heel and angrily walked away.

The Uzumaki personality tended to rub people the wrong way initially. He remembered very distinctly Kushina's difficulty making friends when she first came to the village. There was something abrasive and standoffish about the personality. At least that is what people had told him. In all honesty, Minato didn't see it. Instead, what he saw was an astonishing uniqueness and brazen belief that burned brightly. Kushina was such a fiery and spirited woman, and Minato was pleased beyond words that Naruto had inherited that aspect from her. Though Kushina hadn't been born in Konohagakure to begin with, the Will of Fire burned more brightly in her than in anyone else Minato had ever met. Seeing that in his son made him incredibly proud to be his father.

It would only be a matter of time for the initial abrasiveness of Naruto's personality to wear down the outer shells of those around them, and as they opened up more, they would finally begin to see his son for who he really was. Minato greatly looked forward to that day. For the time being, he sent his son the equivalent of a pat on the head.

"_Don't worry about it too much."_

"_It really sucks sometimes,"_ Naruto admitted, scuffing his shoe.

_"It gets better," _the Yondaime assured.

His son nodded reflexively, but Minato knew he didn't really believe him.

_"Your mother hated me it he beginning," _Minato revealed.

"Eh?!" Naruto cried in surprise, making several heads in the market turn his direction. He gave them sheepish apologies even as a few people glared. Deciding to move away entirely, he jumped on the rooftops and ran towards the monument.

The sun was setting and he wanted to see it from the best view in the village.

"_I don't believe you," _Naruto said eventually when he settled himself down on the crown of the Sandaime's head. He decided to think his responses instead of saying them just in case someone else came up to the monument to watch the sunset.

Minato chuckled. "_It's true. She thought I was useless and unreliable."_

_"But you're the Yondaime!"_

_"I wasn't always, Naruto." _He sighed, "_When I was younger I was pretty quiet— I was when I was an adult too, now that I think about it. Anyways, I never really spoke up about things and your mother, oh she was very upfront about her feelings."_

Naruto absorbed the details eagerly but said nothing, worried his father would stop. He had yet to ask about her, waiting for his father to bring up the subject. Sometimes, when he didn't know Naruto was watching, his father got sad and distant feelings. Naruto just knew he was thing about his wife— Naruto's mom.

"_She used to think I was really weak for a lot of those reasons and kept that thought all through our academy days. It wasn't until we were ten or twelve that she changed her mind," _he said. _"I always liked her though, from the first day I saw her and her red hair."_

"Red hair . . ." Naruto carefully packed the fact away, never wanting to forget it.

"_The point I'm trying to make, is that people change their minds. You'll probably be turned down a lot when it comes to love, but in the end, I know things work out. If not today than in the future. It may not even be Sakura—"_

"Eh?! But she's the prettiest smartest most best kunoichi in the whole village!" Naruto exclaimed aloud.

"_And if it isn't her, then that'll be okay because you'll love that person more than you love Sakura now."_

"_I don't know if I believe you_." Naruto spoke petulantly, regaining his mental focus.

"_That's fine."_ He smiled. "_I'm sure you'll end up with someone who loves you anyways."_

"_Sakura-chan_."

"_Maybe."_

"_Ne . . . Dad. Can you tell me about mom?"_

Minato froze mentally. He'd known this was coming, but he still felt unprepared. Their last moment together, bleeding on one another as they attempted to save their son— he'd never be able to get the image of her tearstained face. She wanted to see Naruto grow up so badly, to be his mother. In the end Kushina had only been his mother for a few hours. In that time though, she'd been the best mother in the world . . .

Now was not the time to being up such stories. Not when Naruto had an important fight ahead of him.

"_After you become a chunin, I'll tell you everything you want to know about her._" Minato said eventually.

"But what if I don't make chunin this time?" Naruto asked, concerned for the first time about the third round.

"_You will."_ Minato smiled. "_Don't start doubting yourself now Naruto. That just isn't your style._"

A slow smile spread over the blond genin's face, growing into a huge, bright grin.

"_It isn't is it_?"

"_No, not at all._" He ruffled his son's hair.

* * *

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**Alright, this is the end of the Prelims Prep, I think. Also, the end of what I already have written out. Next update might be in a while.**

**Thanks for reading though, I hope you like the direction I took it.**

**Also, keep voting on the poll. The answer is pretty goddamn clear, but here's one last chance to change things.**

**I should note that romance would _never _be the leading part in a story. It would be a progression.**


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